{"id":256426,"date":"2023-01-30T10:05:53","date_gmt":"2023-01-30T16:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=256426"},"modified":"2023-01-31T15:13:48","modified_gmt":"2023-01-31T21:13:48","slug":"888-shares-plunge-as-ceo-walks-amid-money-laundering-probe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-shares-plunge-as-ceo-walks-amid-money-laundering-probe\/","title":{"rendered":"888 Shares Plunge as CEO Walks Amid Middle East Money Laundering Probe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shares in online gambling giant 888 Holdings<\/a> [LON: 888] plunged almost 27% in early trading Monday. That\u2019s after the Gibraltar-based company announced CEO Itai Pazner had quit amid an internal review that found deficiencies in its anti-money laundering (AML) program.<\/p>\n

\"888
Itai Pazner, above, left his role at 888 on Monday morning under mysterious circumstances. He had been CEO of the online gambling giant for around four years. (Image: 888 Holdings)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a filing to the London Stock Exchange, 888 said it had chosen to suspend VIP activities in the Middle East pending the outcome of an internal compliance investigation.<\/p>\n

\u201c[\u2026] it has come to light that certain best practices have not been followed in regard to KYC (Know Your Client) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) processes for 888 VIP customers in the Middle East region,\u201d said 888. \u201cThe Board currently estimates that the impact is less than 3% of Group revenues, should the suspensions remain in place. Based on the Board’s current understanding, the process deficiencies identified are isolated to this region only,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n

Whatever the exact nature of the crisis at 888, investors were spooked, wiping more than a quarter off the company’s value in one morning. It was the biggest single-day downswing in 888\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

Biggest Single-Day Downswing<\/strong><\/h2>\n

888 said its current chairman, Lord Jonathan Mendelsohn, will become executive chair on an interim basis as the company searches for a replacement for Pazner.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, CFO Yariv Dafna has said he will remain in his role until the end of the year. He had been due to leave at the end of March.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“The board and I take the group\u2019s compliance responsibilities incredibly seriously,\u201d Mendelsohn said in a statement. \u201cWhen we were alerted to issues with some of 888\u2019s VIP customers, the board took decisive actions. We will be uncompromising in our approach to compliance as we build a strong and sustainable business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Past Troubles<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Pazner held the top role at 888 for four years. Previously, he was COO, and before that, he spent six years as VP of the group\u2019s B2C division.<\/p>\n

\n

Last year, the UK Gambling Commission fined the company<\/a> \u00a39.4 million (US$11.6 million) for social responsibility and AML failings. It was one of the highest fines the regulator had ever levied. It came four and a half years after it had dished out a \u00a37.8 million (US$9.5 million) penalty to 888 for failing to protect vulnerable customers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Andrew Rhodes, UKGC chief executive, said last year that any future infractions by 888 would give the regulator cause to \u201cseriously consider the suitability of the operator to uphold the licensing objectives and keep gambling safe and crime-free.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shares in online gambling giant 888 Holdings [LON: 888] plunged almost 27% in early trading Monday. That\u2019s after the Gibraltar-based company announced CEO Itai Pazner had quit amid an internal review that found deficiencies in its anti-money laundering (AML) program. In a filing to the London Stock Exchange, 888 said it had chosen to suspend […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":218597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,19,13592],"tags":[82116,84788],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n888 Shares Plunge as CEO Walks Amid Money Laundering Probe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"888 loses a quarter of its value in one morning after CEO Itai Pazner quits amid money laundering probe related to Middle East VIP biz.\" \/>\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\/888-shares-plunge-as-ceo-walks-amid-money-laundering-probe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"888 Shares Plunge as CEO Walks Amid Money Laundering Probe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"888 loses a quarter of its value in one morning after CEO Itai Pazner quits amid money laundering probe related to Middle East VIP biz.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-shares-plunge-as-ceo-walks-amid-money-laundering-probe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-30T16:05:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-31T21:13:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/888-Holdings-boss-Itai-Pazner.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1331\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-shares-plunge-as-ceo-walks-amid-money-laundering-probe\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-shares-plunge-as-ceo-walks-amid-money-laundering-probe\/\",\"name\":\"888 Shares Plunge as CEO Walks Amid Money Laundering Probe\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-shares-plunge-as-ceo-walks-amid-money-laundering-probe\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-shares-plunge-as-ceo-walks-amid-money-laundering-probe\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/888-Holdings-boss-Itai-Pazner.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-30T16:05:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-31T21:13:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"888 loses a quarter of its value in one morning after CEO Itai Pazner quits amid money laundering probe related to Middle East VIP biz.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-shares-plunge-as-ceo-walks-amid-money-laundering-probe\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-shares-plunge-as-ceo-walks-amid-money-laundering-probe\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-shares-plunge-as-ceo-walks-amid-money-laundering-probe\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/888-Holdings-boss-Itai-Pazner.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/888-Holdings-boss-Itai-Pazner.jpg\",\"width\":2000,\"height\":1331,\"caption\":\"Itai Pazner left his role at 888 on Monday morning under mysterious circumstances. 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