Popular gaming brand Mr Green are to pay £3M to the ‘National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Related Harm’ by the UK Gambling Commission, as failures were found in the brands procedures of protecting players from gambling related harm and money laundering.
Insufficient Policies and Procedures
Between 1 November 2014 and 7 November 2018, they had insufficient policies and procedures in place if players were displaying signs of a gambling problem.The Gambling Commissions found Mr Green implemented no social responsibility interaction after a player won £50,000, gambled it away and carried on depositing thousands of pounds.Failed to check the source of funds (SOF) after a player gambled £1m and claimed it was funded from an insurance claim.A photograph of a laptop screen showing a crypto trading account in US dollars was accepted as SOF.
No Adequate Player Interaction
Mr Green have admitted there was no adequate interaction with players presenting gambling problems, when the problem was triggered, no follow up interaction occurred, further more, reports were not always logged.The Commission found, out of the top 120 customers at Mr Green, 113 accounts had to be closed after not passing AML checks. Mr Green have agreed to complete further assessments on the next 130 top players, after these are complete, all 250 top players will have been assessed.The failure in compliance happened before William Hill Acquired Mr Green, they have since admitted gross failings in the protection of players from gambling related harm and have since invested in improving AML and other responsible gambling procedures.Since 2018, more than £20m in penalties have been issued by the Commission to operators who failed in responsible gambling procedures, Mr Green are the ninth operator to face action from the regulator