A U.K. online gaming company was fined 6.1 million pounds (U.S. $7.6 million) by the country’s Gambling Commission for a series of anti-money laundering (AML) failures.
In Touch Games, which operates 11 gambling websites, was not adequately assessing the AML risks posed by gambling customers who live in high-risk jurisdictions, are politically exposed persons, or are linked to PEPs, among other risk factors, the commission said Wednesday in a press release.
In Touch also did not conduct adequate due diligence on the source of income of customers who lost £10,000 (U.S. $12,400) over a 12-month period, according to the agency.
The company was found to have inadequate AML policies and procedures, was not implementing AML policies and procedures effectively, and was not “sufficiently considering” the commission’s AML and terrorist financing risk assessment or guidance, the agency said.
It is the third enforcement action levied against In Touch by the commission. The company paid a £3.4 million (then-U.S. $4.8 million) fine in March 2021 for AML failures, among other issues, and reached a £2.2 million (then-U.S. $2.8 million) settlement for AML-related failings in May 2019.
“Considering this operator’s history of failings, we expected to see significant improvement when we carried out our planned compliance assessment. Disappointingly, although many improvements had been made, there was still more to do,” said Kay Roberts, the Gambling Commission’s executive director of operations, in the release. “This £6.1M fine shows that we will take escalating enforcement action where failures are repeated, and all licensees should be acutely aware of this.”
The company was also cited for violating a social responsibility provision of the U.K.’s Gambling Act 2005.
In Touch cooperated with the commission’s investigation, acknowledged its failings, and took “immediate remedial action,” the agency said.
In Touch did not respond to a request for comment.
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