The UK Gambling Commission has reported that an investigation into Bet365’s anti-money laundering and social responsibility controls has revealed a number of potential weaknesses and shortcomings in the online gaming operator’s approach to combating such risks.
The investigation comes on the back of another investigation by West Yorkshire Police that led to the conviction of an individual for serious theft and money laundering offences.
Bet365 agreed that knowledge from this exercise should be shared with the industry in order to improve and raise standards in these areas.
The regulator said that although its pursuit of matters with Bet365 is complete, it will continue its enquiries with other operators.
Having fully co-operated with the investigation, Bet365 is now taking a number of steps to ensure that ‘risk to licensing objectives is managed more effectively with its business’, the regulator added.
The Gambling Commission said: “The operator’s senior management are clear that they wish to be among industry leaders in managing anti-money laundering and social responsibility risks and have made a public commitment to taking steps to do so.”
The regulator also noted that the events took place during a period on which such shortcomings in relation to anti-money laundering and social responsibility controls appeared to have been more widespread and before the Commission drew public attention for the need to address such issues.
Matthew Hill, director regulatory risk and Analysis at the Gambling Commission, said: “This case demonstrates just how much work the gambling industry still has to do before it properly recognises customers at risk.
“But the investment of the significant funds given up by the operator into research, including into the development of predictive data analytics, to benefit customers and the industry as a whole, has the potential to deliver a positive outcome.”
source : www.igamingbusiness.com
