Britain’s Gambling Commission has issued a second fine to operator AG Communications (trading as Aspire Global) for regulatory failures.
AG Communications (part of Aristocrat Interactive) currently operates 58 websites in the United Kingdom and has agreed to pay £1.4 million after a Commission investigation revealed social responsibility and anti-money laundering (AML) failures between May 2023 and October 2024.
It marks the second time AG Communications has faced regulatory action after paying £237,600 in November 2022 for AML failures.
The latest regulatory action covers social responsibility failures, which include not having effective systems in place to prevent customers spending significant amounts of money in a short period of time before an assessment was made as to whether the customer was potentially at risk of gambling related harm.
The operator also failed to conduct a safer gambling interaction despite one customer losing £6,000 in 48 hours, with telephone interaction only attempted when the daily loss limit of £5,000 in 24 hours was reached.
In another case, one customer was able to deposit and lose £7,000 in just over four hours in the early hours. The regulator found that the customer was able to play through the backstop in place at the time due to a system error which failed to prevent the customer from depositing above the backstop limit.
Another customer was able to open a significant number of gambling accounts despite the fact they had previously self-excluded.
Among the AML failures, the Commission found that AG Communications’ AML/Counter Terrorist Financing (CTF) policies and procedures were too reliant on financial thresholds. This meant that when customers hit a medium, medium/high or high AML risk score they were not subject to a manual Enhanced Customer Due Diligence (ECDD) check until a financial trigger was hit.
When financial thresholds were reached, there were delays in completing ECDD checks, with one customer who reached the financial threshold not having an ECDD review conducted until a week later.
Another failure related to the operator not following its policy regarding ECDD checks. One customer who reached a financial threshold but did not have a high AML risk score, did not have a manual ECDD review until eight days later – contrary to AG Communications’ policy.
“This case marks the second occasion that this operator has been subject to enforcement action,” said Commission director of enforcement John Pierce. “Its failure to uphold anti-money laundering standards, delays in necessary interventions, and deficiencies in social responsibility measures are wholly unacceptable.
“Today’s outcome underscores the gravity of these breaches. It is essential that operators not only implement and maintain robust anti-money laundering policies, procedures, and controls but also act swiftly and decisively in response to any indications of suspicious activity. Effective social responsibility measures must be in place at all times to ensure that consumers identified as at risk receive timely and appropriate intervention.
“This case stands as a clear warning to all operators that repeated regulatory failings will result in increasingly stringent enforcement action.”
AG Communications fully co-operated with Commission’s investigation and has agreed to make a payment in lieu of a financial penalty of £1.4 million, which includes a divestment of £220,334, with the money to be directed to socially responsible purposes.