UKGC

LeoVegas is to pay a £1.32m UK Gambling Commission penalty, as well as having to undergo an audit and receiving an official warning, for social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures.

The audit issued to the operator, which runs a site of the same name as well as Slot Boss, Pink Casino, 21.co.uk and Bet UK, will be undertaken in a bid to ensure it is effectively implementing its anti-money laundering and social responsibility policies, procedures and controls.

Social responsibility failures identified include setting spend triggers significantly higher than an average customer’s spend and implementing six hours as a point at a white a 45-minute cool off must be taken, without explaining how each was appropriate or concluded.

It was also found that the firm had “not sufficiently taken into account the Commission’s 2019 guidance on customer interaction,” and had not acted on their own policy of interacting with customers exhibiting indicators of harm.

These include denied deposits, cancelled withdrawals, long gameplay sessions, and gambling sessions occurring late at night or early in the morning.

AML failings discovered included relying too heavily on ineffective threshold triggers and inadequate information regarding how much a customer should be allowed to spend based on their income or wealth, or any other risk factor.

Financial triggers were also deemed to be too high and unrealistic to effectively manage associated risks, with inappropriate controls said to have permitted “significant levels of gambling spend to take place within a short space of time”.

Leanne Oxley, UKGC Director of Enforcement and Intelligence, said: “We identified this through focused compliance activity and we will continue to take action against other operators if they do not learn the lessons our enforcement work is providing.

“This case is a further example of operators failing to protect customers and failing to be alive to money laundering risks within their business.”