Kindred Group plc’s subsidiaries, 32Red Limited and Platinum Gaming Limited breached social responsibility and anti-money laundering laws, and because of that, they were fined £7.1 million.
32red.com, the owner of 32Red Limited, has to pay a bigger fine of £4,195,655. Platinum Gaming Limited’s fine is smaller: the company has to pay £2,937,599.
After a Commission investigation, the official warrant is issued to both companies.
Social responsibility failures:
Among the breaches, there are some major social responsibility violations. 32Red didn’t have early identification of customers who might have experienced some harm related to gambling in the past, and they failed to recognize some gamblers who had the potential to become problem gamblers. The same happened with Platinum Gaming.
32Red’s customers’ interactions weren’t carefully monitored, and the company trusted customers that they could afford the gambling without any double-checks.
Platinum Gaming also failed: the company allowed the customers to have many accounts under different names, even the ones who were banned or self-excluded on the 32Red platform.
Anti-money laundering breaches:
When it comes to anti-money laundering breaches, 32Red didn’t implement the required measures. Some of the company’s customers were at financial risk, and the company didn’t manage to identify and report it. The customer account reviews were very high, which prevented the company from taking effective measures. It allowed customers to gamble huge amounts of money in a short amount of time, and operators weren’t able to control and prevent that.
32Red had Source of Funds (SOF), and Source of Wealth (SOW) requests. However, they weren’t respected, so the customers were able to deposit funds and gamble on its platform before the operator allowed it. Additionally, one of the accounts on the company’s platform wasn’t blocked when the deadline for submitting the required information had expired. That user kept gambling, spending £16,280, with a loss of £8,321, for two weeks before the account was blocked.
The funds from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) also weren’t controlled by the company.
When it comes to Platinum Gaming, their policies, procedures, and controls weren top646 ’t in accordance with AML. The company didn’t revise and review its policies, procedures, and controls, and they failed to be effective.
Executive Director of the Gambling Commission, Kay Roberts, said: “These failures highlight clearly that both operators failed to interact with customers in a way which minimizes the risk of them experiencing harms associated with gambling. Our investigations also showed that policies and procedures were overlooked, both around customer accounts and anti-money laundering practices. Ultimately, it is an example which all gambling operators should take notice of to ensure they protect their customers at all times.”
