Bet365 to pay £580,000 settlement over AML and social responsibility shortcomings

Bet365 will pay £582,120 as part of a regulatory settlement with the Gambling Commission (GC) over anti-money laundering (AML) and social responsibility failures.

The total will be split between the online giant’s gaming and sports betting licences, with the monies being directed to socially responsible causes.

The settlement comes after failings were discovered in a GC compliance assessment in March 2022.

As a result, bet365’s gaming arm will pay £343,035 while the sports betting arm will stump up £239,085.

In terms of failures at Hillside (UK Gaming), which holds a licence for bet365’s bingo and casino products, the GC identified shortcomings on two points of AML requirements and one social responsibility provision.

On the AML front, between May 2021 and July 2022, the GC established that bet365’s enhanced customer due diligence trigger were “ineffective” at managing money laundering risk.

The regulator also ruled that the operator failed to undertake financial sanctions checks on new customers prior to their first deposit.

The GC also noted bet365 did not independently verify customers, and in turn “over relied” on respective customer’s annual self-verification check, such as submitted identification documents.

Additionally, the GC said bet365’s procedure document “contained inadequate detail as to who would be deemed ‘at risk’ and ‘not at risk’ for customer risk profiling.

The GC also found shortcomings in bet365’s ongoing monitoring of customer relationships and failure to apply enhanced checks where there is a high risk of money laundering or terrorist financing.

The GC did note that its review of specific customers found no evidence of criminal spend, or the acceptance of funds from persons subject to financial sanctions.

For social responsibility breaches, the GC ruled that between October 2021 and September 2022, bet365’s interactions with customers were not individually tailored, and therefore not meaningful.

Furthermore, the operator’s early risk detection system was “not demonstrably effective in understanding the impact of individual interactions on a customer’s behaviour and whether further action was required”.

Finally, the GC said that bet365’s approach to evaluation meant the firm was “unable to effectively ascertain whether a customer had read and understood the information or advice provided within its interactions”.

For Hillside (UK Sports), which holds a licence to offer betting, the GC’s findings were identical to the Hillside (UK Gaming) investigation, but noted the addition that KYC triggers were ineffective at managing money laundering risk.

Alongside the financial settlement, bet365 will also pay £31,369 towards the GC’s costs of investigating the case.

The GC noted that bet365 had taken steps to remedy the breaches, as well as the firm’s timely cooperation with the investigation as mitigating factors.

Kay Roberts, GC executive director of operations, said: “The policy and procedural failings may not have been as severe as those at other gambling businesses in recent years but they were failings nonetheless.

“We expect high standards from operators in terms of keeping gambling safe, fair and crime-free, and will always take action to correct any failings.

“This operator is very aware that a repeat of these failings will result is escalating regulatory action,” she added.