32Red fined £2m for social responsibility and AML failings
Operator let one player with problem behaviour deposit £758,000 without any checks
32Red has been fined £2m by the UK Gambling Commission for failing to protect a problem gambler and carry out appropriate money laundering checks.
According to the Commission, the operator allowed a customer to deposit £758,000, between November 2014 and April 2017, without checks.
32Red also offered the player free bonuses despite their spending being flagged as problematic at least 22 times throughout the period.
Indications of harm included admissions to 32Red staff that they had spent too much, displaying frustration and chasing losses.
According to the Commission: “Simple open source checks which could have been indicators of the customer’s source of wealth were not performed – e.g. searching typical salaries for the occupation, searching Google maps on the home address. In fact, the customer’s average monthly net salary was £2,150.”
Richard Watson, commission executive director, said 32Red did the opposite of what it was meant to after having detected a problem gambler.
“Operators must take action when they spot signs of problem gambling and should be carefully reviewing all the customers they are having a high level of contact with,” Watson added.
“Protecting consumers from gambling-related harm is a priority for us and where we see operators failing in their responsibility to keep their customers safe we will take tough action.”
In May EGR reported that 32Red was one of 17 operators under investigation by the UKGC for social responsibility and AML failings.
The regulator said at the time of launching the investigation companies had been failing to carry out sufficient AML checks, failing to do due diligence on customers and their source of funds, and failing to intervene when customers showed signs of problem gambling.