SkillOnNet agrees £305,150 GC settlement over AML and social responsibility breaches

SkillOnNet has agreed to pay £305,150 to the Gambling Commission (GC) after an investigation by the regulator found social responsibility and anti-money laundering failings between January 2021 and December 2022.

The Malta-headquartered operator was the subject of a section 116 review by the GC, which found the firm had breached several sections of the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP).

Breaches were found in five main areas relating social responsibility and anti-money laundering (AML).

The firm was found to have insufficient policies to comply with AML rules, as well as deficiencies in its responsible gambling policies, including what the regulator called “weaknesses” in implementation.

In respect of the first AML breach, SkillOnNet was deemed to have failed to consider payments from third parties, as well as the possible presence of organised crime groups and so-called “mule” accounts looking to launder money through its casino products.

The GC also found the firm had failed to adequately consider information on AML risks provided by the regulator.

Secondly, the GC judged that SkillOnNet had failed to risk-profile customers, and have procedures to identify disproportionate spend by customers, instead choosing to rely on customers “unevidenced” verbal declarations.

Procedures requiring an annual report as well as the identification of deficiencies were also not followed by the firm, the GC added.

Several customers were able to deposit and lose more than double the £2,000 limit SkillOnNet had in place to mitigate the risks of unverified payment methods.

In addition, the firm was found to have an over-reliance on re-staked winnings, with the belief that funds won and withdrawn by the customer were evidence of available funds up to 30 days later, operating on the assumption that customers were recycling their winnings.

The GC also established that the PlayOJO parent company had failed to assess risks concerning terrorist financing and transfer of funds.

From a social responsibility perspective, the GC determined that SkillOnNet had failed to identify customers who displayed markers of harm, with customers able to deposit and gamble at high levels and speed without any safer gambling controls being activated, which the firm later claimed was due to a “technical issue” at the firm.

In one example of disproportionate spending, a customer was able to deposit and lose up to £3,000 per month, which was more than their evidenced monthly salary.

The GC said the operator had likewise failed to respond to so-called ‘night play’ as a marker of harm, as highlighted in one instance where a customer was engaged in a seven-hour-long playing session and admitted to being at work on nightshifts with his phone on autoplay.

SkillOnNet was found to have also failed to effectively interact with some customers showing markers of harm, instead choosing to rely on automated pop-ups, and in the cases where it did interact, to have failed to minimise the risk of indicated harm.

One customer deposited £16,000 in total and had a net loss of £3,224.74 over 41 days, receiving multiple automated safer gambling pop-ups and emails, as well as receiving two alerts for their activity.

SkillOnNet conducted a number of ‘safer gambling conversations’ which returned basic information from the customer to the agent’s questions and, as a result, the customer was able to continue gambling.

“The licensee’s interactions were not effective in capturing the necessary information in order to make an adequate assessment on whether an individual was at risk or not.

“The interactions that did take place were minimal and took the customer’s word at face value without any further scrutiny or attempt to seek further information to support decision making,” the GC said in its regulatory public statement.

The GC confirmed that SkillOnNet had taken action to cooperate with the regulator, accepting the key findings of the investigation and remedying the breaches identified.

In addition to the £305,150 payment, SkillOnNet will pay investigating costs of £9,079 as well as conducting a third-party review of both its AML and safer gambling policies within the next 12 months.

In response to the settlement agreement, SkillOnNet’s head of compliance Andy Andrew said: “Our industry maintains high regulatory standards which we are fully committed to upholding.

“We will continue to work diligently, as we did during this process with the Gambling Commission, to meet the expectations set forth by regulatory authorities and provide our players with a safe place to gamble.’’