Adam Roarty is a journalist covering sports betting, regulation, and industry innovation for CasinoBeats. His coverage includes tax increases in the UK, covering breaking stories in the ever-evolving landscape of US betting such as the...
Read Full BioTwo reports have been published by UK government agencies highlighting the rapidly evolving gambling industry.
The first report was published by the UK Gambling Commission and shows that rules to curb VIP programs that encouraged excessive gambling are working as intended.
Meanwhile, another report has upgraded the risk of money laundering at online casinos to medium from low.
The report identifies the rise of “crash games” and crypto casinos as leading to increased risk of money laundering, as well as white-label partnerships, which have the risk of weak customer due diligence checks.
This report follows the UK Gambling Commission conducting financial risk assessment pilot tests earlier this year.
Rules On VIP Schemes Remain Effective
The UK Gambling Commission introduced new rules on VIP schemes in 2020 and the latest report indicates the rules are continuing to have an effect.
The key findings of the report state that, “There is no growth in the number of customers enrolled in High Value Customers (HVC) or VIP schemes between 2021 to 2022 and 2023 to 2024; the number of customers on average remains at a much lower level than the pre-policy position.”
Of the 12 respondents who returned data in 2024, VIP customer programs accounted for around 3% of revenue. Brick-and-mortar casinos reported a greater share of their revenue as being from VIP schemes, with some over 10%.
The report also noted that most operators had additional checks in place to monitor VIP customers for potential signs of problem gambling.
This is one of the 11 recommended practices to support operators’ VIP programs released by the Responsible Online Gaming Association (ROGA) last month.
Online Casinos Money Laundering Risk Upgraded
While the rules around VIP programs are reported to be working, HM Treasury published a report about the increased risk of money laundering at online casinos.
The report highlights crash games as a risk due to their action-forward nature, which allows players to cash out funds quickly. This allows criminals to deposit funds and quickly clean money by cashing out.
Traditionally, these games have been available at crypto casinos, but it is noted that regulated operators are now also offering the games.
The report states, “The increased interest from the regulated casino market in crash games may pose an opportunity to launder criminal funds through GB-regulated operators.”
White Label Partnerships Not Providing Oversight
The report also claims that white label partnerships, which allow operators to obtain licenses through third-parties, do not provide sufficient oversight.
The UK Gambling Commission tightened rules around white label partnerships last month, and the report notes that “These arrangements are now less common”.
However, it states that “risks remain where white-label providers offer large numbers of websites, as failure by a single remote casino to control the ML (money laundering) risks relating to their white-label partnerships can impact a significant number of websites.”
The report was presented to the UK parliament and tighter rules may follow based on its findings.
