Last week, the United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) published its Compliance and Enforcement Report for the period 2020 – 2021. The report contains findings of non-compliance with UK operators and where the industry as a whole, needs to raise the bar in terms of, social responsibility and money laundering.New Chief executive at UKGC Andrew Rhodes said, during 2020 – 2021 the UKGC casework lead to five suspensions of operator licenses and the retraction of one operator license and nine management license holders.
Two Predominant Weaknesses
He went on to say in 2020 – 2021 the casework found two weaknesses in almost all cases, operators not complying with social responsibilities and anti-money laundering rules. During the year a total of £32.1 million in fines was dealt with 15 gambling operators.Mr Rhodes was in fact more concerned about the reasoning behind the failings more so than the failings themselves. He stated operators are either not making resources available or putting commercial gain before regulatory infrastructure.“This is simply unacceptable and will be seen as such by others in the industry who work hard to achieve compliance, so, adherence should be at the forefront of every operator’s mind.”
Hard Year
The last year has been exceptionally hard for the gambling industry within the UK leading to business and job losses but this was no excuse for the failures of its customers.During 2017/2018 the UKGC collected over £100 million in penalties and rescinded 10 operator licenses, this figure does not include licenses surrendered before the Gambling Commission investigations are concluded.