In a post published on the official site of the United Kingdom Gambling Commission, the latter informed the gambling community that it has sanctioned 888 Holdings with £9.4 million. The company that runs 888Casino as well as a dozen of other popular brands, has to pay the solid fine because of social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures. In addition, 888 also has to undertake independent audits.
The Commission elaborated that 888 allowed players to deposit £40,000 before the source-of-fund checks were triggered and allowed them to play during the period of the verification procedures. What is worse, 888 is said to have accepted verbal assurances from customers regarding their source of funds and, in some cases, allowed them to deposit more than £60,000 before being checked.
The investigation also showed that the operator sent emails to customers, regarding the responsible gambling policy, without asking for any kind of interaction or even a reply to the email.
This is not the first fine 888 has to pay, but it is the largest so far. Back in 2017, the UKGC hit 888 with а £7.8 million penalty due to similar responsible gambling failures. Last year, the Commission tightened the measures against repeating offenders. Introduction of amendments to the existing gambling laws is just around the corner and the UKGC is keeping a close eye on operators that have dared to abuse the laws more than once.
Andrew Rhodes, the UKGC chief executive, said that
“consumers in Britain deserve to know that when they gamble, they are participating in a leisure activity where operators play their part in keeping them.”
and “if there is a repeat of the failures at 888 then we have to seriously consider the suitability of the operator to uphold the licensing objectives and keep gambling safe and crime-free”.
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