The United Kingdom’s Gambling Commission (UKGC) announced that it has issued a £1.4 million ($1.8 million) penalty to AspireGlobal for social responsibility and AML failures. The money will fund socially responsible causes in the UK, the regulator confirmed.
The Operator Will Have to Pay a Huge Penalty
The UKGC said that AG Communications Limited, which trades as AspireGlobal and runs 58 gambling websites will pay a £1,407,834 penalty ($1,794,081) because of multiple social responsibility and anti-money laundering/counter terrorist financing (AML/CTF) violations.
According to the UKGC, AspireGlobal lacked effective systems to prevent customers from overspending in a short period of time, thus exposing players to potential risks of gambling harm. The UKGC understood that AspireGlobal’s brands were unable to detect the velocity of spending and intervene in a timely manner.
For context, the operator failed to intervene when one customer lost £6,000 in 48 hours. The operator only attempted a telephone interaction once the customer reached their daily loss limit of £5,000 in 24 hours.
In addition to that, a separate player was able to deposit and lose £7,000 in just over four hours in the early hours of the day. The UKGC understood that a system failure had allowed the customer to exceed the daily limit.
A third customer, meanwhile, managed to open multiple new gambling accounts despite the fact that they had excluded themselves from gambling.
The Operators’ AML Controls Were Lax
As mentioned, the UKGC detected a list of AML and CTF failures in addition to the social responsibility breaches. According to the regulator, the gambling company’s AML and CTF policies were “too reliant on financial thresholds.”
The UKGC also understood that when customers hit a medium, medium/high or high AML score, they were not subjected to an Enhanced Customer Due Diligence (ECDD) check until a financial trigger was hit.
The UKGC further noted that when financial thresholds were reached, there were oftentimes delays before ECDD checks were conducted. In one case, a customer who reached the financial threshold did not have a check until a week later. In a separate case, a customer who reached the financial threshold but did not have a high AML score did not have a check conducted until eight days later.
Not the First Time AG Communications Has Been Penalized
John Pierce, the UKGC director of enforcement, commented on the matter, saying that this marks the second time Aspire Global has been subject to enforcement action. He said that the operators’ shortcomings were “wholly unacceptable.”
For context, AG Communications Limited had paid a £237,600 penalty for AML failures back in 2022.
Pierce added that the current penalty highlights the severity of the operator’s new violations. He emphasized that operators should maintain high AML and social responsibility controls and standards.
It is essential that operators not only implement and maintain robust anti-money laundering policies, procedures, and controls but also act swiftly and decisively in response to any indications of suspicious activity. Effective social responsibility measures must be in place at all times to ensure that consumers identified as at risk receive timely and appropriate intervention.
John Pierce, director of enforcement, UKGC
In other news, the UKGC was recently accused of failing to adequately regulate the sector, resulting in dire consequences.
