{"id":129681,"date":"2020-03-12T14:53:08","date_gmt":"2020-03-12T21:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=129681"},"modified":"2020-03-12T15:34:34","modified_gmt":"2020-03-12T22:34:34","slug":"ukgc-clobbers-betway-with-record-11-6-million-fine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ukgc-clobbers-betway-with-record-11-6-million-fine\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Regulator Clobbers Betway With Record $11.6 Million Fine for Accepting Stolen Money"},"content":{"rendered":"

Online sports book Betway achieved the dubious honor of becoming the UK\u2019s most robustly punished gambling operator Thursday, as it agreed to pay a record \u00a311.6 million ($14.6 million) fine to settle a litany of compliance failings.<\/p>\n

\"Betway\"
West Ham sponsor Betway was judged to have held \u201clittle regard for the welfare of its VIP customers or the impact on those around them.\u201d (Image: BBC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Short of license revocation, it\u2019s the harshest penalty the UK Gambling Commission<\/a> (UKGC) has ever imposed on one of its licensees, dwarfing the previous record \u2013 the \u00a37.8 million paid by 888 in 2017 for similar transgressions.<\/p>\n

Most of Betway\u2019s infractions were linked to seven high-rolling VIP customers, some of whom were spending stolen money.<\/p>\n

The UKGC found that a lack of checks on individual customers\u2019 affordability and source of funds allowed \u00a35.8 million ($7.3 million) to flow through the company coffers, which the regulator believed was likely to be the proceeds of crime.<\/p>\n

Performing these checks is a condition of an operator\u2019s licensing and anti-money laundering (AML) responsibilities.<\/p>\n

\u00a38 Million Deposit <\/strong><\/h2>\n

In one instance, Betway failed to inquire into the source of funds of one customer who had deposited over \u00a38 million ($10 million) and lost over \u00a34 million ($5 million) during a four-year period, despite the account being flagged as a potential risk 20 times.<\/p>\n

The gambler, described by the UKGC only as \u201cCustomer B,\u201d was one of the Betway\u2019s biggest-spending clients. Customer B\u2019s account was only suspended when police made contact with the company.<\/p>\n

\n

Another gambler, Customer C, deposited \u00a31.6 million ($2 million) and lost more than \u00a3700,000 ($882,000) over a three-year period, despite being unemployed at the time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The customer provided false evidence of his employment when Betway inquired about his funds. But these were never verified by the operator, UKGC said.<\/p>\n

Customers C\u2019s account was eventually closed after the customer contacted Betway himself to confess that the money was not his \u2013 presumably in the hope of getting it back.<\/p>\n

VIP Overhaul<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cThe actions of Betway suggest there was little regard for the welfare of its VIP customers or the impact on those around them,\u201d said Richard Watson, UKGC Executive Director, in an official statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe treatment and handling of high value customers is a significant piece of that work and operators are in no doubt about the need to tackle the issue at speed,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The UK government is planning an overhaul of its gambling regulations, and the VIP schemes used to encourage high rollers to keep on playing have recently come into hard focus.<\/p>\n

Despite ramping up fines<\/a> for errant operators over the past three years, the UKGC has come under fire for being too lenient with its licensees.<\/p>\n

Labour MP Carolyn Harris has previously said it was \u201cnot fit for purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Thursday, she told The Guardian<\/em> that the UKGC should have suspended Betway\u2019s license, asking, \u201cJust how exploitative has a gambling company got to be\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Online sports book Betway achieved the dubious honor of becoming the UK\u2019s most robustly punished gambling operator Thursday, as it agreed to pay a record \u00a311.6 million ($14.6 million) fine to settle a litany of compliance failings. Short of license revocation, it\u2019s the harshest penalty the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has ever imposed on one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":129684,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,13592],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUKGC Clobbers Betway With Record $11.6 Million Fine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Betway hit with record $11.6 million fine after UKGC finds the betting company failed to inquire into VIP funds that were the proceeds of crime.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ukgc-clobbers-betway-with-record-11-6-million-fine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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