This week's cautionary tale for the operators who take things too lightly comes from the good ol’ UK, where even the biggest of names get slapped on the wrist for not playing by the book.
One of the world's leading gambling brands, William Hill, made a few severe omissions that will cost them dearly - £6,2 million is the value of the fine determined by the UK Gambling Commission! The supplier will have to pay for breaching the rules catering for social responsibility and money laundering.
The UKGC revealed that, between November 2014 and August 2016, William Hill's upper management committed a series of violations leading to the breach of social responsibility and money laundering regulations. Part of the reason why this occurred, according to UKGC, is because William Hill did not appoint enough staff members who would monitor the proceedings of regulations in an effective manner. As a result, ten different players deposited money linked with criminal offences which generated a £1.2 million revenue for the operator who did not look for the source of the money – a fatal mistake!
One client- who lives in a rented flat earning £30,000 per year in the accounts department - deposited £654,000 over a period of nine months. Another one, who is accused for stealing from their employer, deposited £541,000 over 14 months. In both instances, William Hill management didn't carry out any checks.
For violating this regulation, the brand will need to return the £1.2 million they earned and pay the additional fine of £5 million.
Neil McArthur, UKGC's Executive Director, commented this breaching of the rules: “We will use the full range of our enforcement powers to make gambling fairer and safer. This was a systemic failing at William Hill which went on for nearly two years and today's penalty package - which could exceed £6.2m - reflects the seriousness of the breaches. Gambling businesses have a responsibility to ensure that they keep crime out of gambling and tackle problem gambling - and as part of that they must be constantly curious about where the money they are taking is coming from.”
Source:
“William Hill to pay £6.2m penalty package for systemic social responsibility and money laundering failures”, gamblingcommission.gov.uk, February 20, 2018.
coolsongss
6 years ago
Hero Member
Oh, I saw this news before, and the fines was a little too big, but good to players anyway. But, after reading the details of William Hill did, I think that they well deserve the fine, and UKGC has to be praised to spot their illegal operations. Wow, William Hill doen't have a good reputation nor a bad one, but, this...
Oh, I saw this news before, and the fines was a little too big, but good to players anyway. But, after reading the details of William Hill did, I think that they well deserve the fine, and UKGC has to be praised to spot their illegal operations. Wow, William Hill doen't have a good reputation nor a bad one, but, this charge gives them what they deserve. Great.
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Tweeksta
6 years ago
Super Hero
wow!! i always tot william hill would be ranked as one of the most reputable online casinos coz i see them advertised everywhere. im still seeing william hill adverts being aired on aus tv as well as radio which is suprising coz aus gambling law is very strict so i tot the gov wd of shut them down by now coz of this...
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cheztwins
6 years ago
Hero Member
Wow, it looks like this casino pissed off the wrong people. I imagine this kind of 'money-laundering' runs rampant within this industry. In my opinion, the responsibility shouold not fall onto the casino to check where your money is coming from. I mean, when you go to the grocery store are you asked to provide a checks...
Wow, it looks like this casino pissed off the wrong people. I imagine this kind of 'money-laundering' runs rampant within this industry. In my opinion, the responsibility shouold not fall onto the casino to check where your money is coming from. I mean, when you go to the grocery store are you asked to provide a checks and balances to the store before being allowed to pay for your groceries? And lets not forget who this burden will eventually fall on.....the players. That is the casinos source of income so they will simply build the cost to check all transactions into the cost for players to play at their casino. i.e. lower payouts and higher transaction fees. You are welcome.
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Geno
6 years ago
Newbie
What an intriguing element to add to law enforcement. My respect for Scotland Yard and even Agatha Christie just shot up 100 percent.
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Allstarmikey
6 years ago
Super Hero
Good !!! Nothing more to add to that
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sharpe
6 years ago
Super Hero
That's really an enormous fine and probably William Hill have done some miner violations but I'm really surprised to see them involved in a money laundering activities trough some of their criminal linked clients, that's more than dearly costed mistake and I'm sure they would be quite more careful now...but it would be...
That's really an enormous fine and probably William Hill have done some miner violations but I'm really surprised to see them involved in a money laundering activities trough some of their criminal linked clients, that's more than dearly costed mistake and I'm sure they would be quite more careful now...but it would be too little too late isn't it?! So probably the size of the fee is quite fair in the end.
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pusher777
6 years ago
Mighty Member
amounts of deposits are really big . But penalty its a massive and really huge.. I remember in WH banners about responsible play hm..
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Sydney
6 years ago
Almighty Member
They are not the only one in the gambling industry breaching the regulations, unfortunately this happens often in many online and land based casinos. Last year 888 was fined £7.8million for failing to protect vulnerable customers. In January this year UK Gambling Commission has reportedly announced that it has launched...
They are not the only one in the gambling industry breaching the regulations, unfortunately this happens often in many online and land based casinos. Last year 888 was fined £7.8million for failing to protect vulnerable customers. In January this year UK Gambling Commission has reportedly announced that it has launched a formal investigation into 17 online gambling operators over alleged social responsibility and anti-money laundering concerns, so we'll be probably reading some more articles like this one...
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mafalda
6 years ago
Sr. Newbie
Well, those 2 deposit amounts were really huge and this couldn't be done by accident. I bet the casino management had their role in this, too...
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zuga
6 years ago
Admin
thats one hefty fine, but still peanuts for company like WH. It was long time coming if u ask me, they have employed questionable tactics for many years. Also their affiliate program is one of the least trusted in the igaming industry. nuff said...
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jade
6 years ago
Super Hero
We all know that there's two ways this went. Either they knew and didn't hide it very well, or they have some dumb bunnies working in that department. You would think that even the dumbest bunny would have thought to check out those two. Now that they see how much it will cost them to turn a blind eye to such activities,...
We all know that there's two ways this went. Either they knew and didn't hide it very well, or they have some dumb bunnies working in that department. You would think that even the dumbest bunny would have thought to check out those two. Now that they see how much it will cost them to turn a blind eye to such activities, if they get caught, maybe, just maybe, they have learned a powerful lesson. I wonder how much of that money the two depositors won back? If the depositors didn't win much back, William Hill has plenty money to pay the fine. This story is very telling about the big money some of these Casino make, If they can afford to pay a fine like that and stay in business, wow! Nonetheless, every operator in the UK should be going over their books, right about now. If their not, the next one is on them....
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