UKGC Investigating 17 Online Gambling Operators

According to a report in The Guardian newspaper, the United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) has launched a formal investigation into 17 online gambling operators who are the focus of social responsibility and money-laundering concerns.

The Commission has also stated that they may have to revoke the licenses of up to five of these firms.

What happened?

The regulators preliminary review is said to have uncovered numerous failings at the 17 operators, including the hiring of officers to report money laundering who could not correctly define, let alone recognise, what money laundering was.

Other companies are said by the commission to have shown “a general lack of understanding” in terms of how business could be affected by criminal spend, and had not given agencies sufficient information with regards to betting activity that has been deemed suspicious.

According to The Guardian the initial review commenced in October (2017) to discover how well licensed operators were meeting the responsibilities expected of them by the Commission, and found that some operators amongst the 17 unnamed companies had not taken sufficient steps to intervene with players who showed signs of problem gambling.

Sharp Focus

Sarah Harrison, UKGC CEO, who steps down next month to take a position in the UK Government, said it was “vital that the gambling industry takes its duty to protect customers… seriously”, adding:

“As the online sector continues to grow and now accounts for a third of the British gambling market, it is right that we maintain a sharp focus on online gambling.

“That is why in addition to our work on compliance among online casino operators, we have also been conducting a wider ranging review of online gambling looking at how the market has evolved and to identify where further action can be taken to make gambling fairer and safer for consumers.”

The operators have yet to be named, but we expect more to come on this story in the near future.