UK-licensed operator White Hat Gaming has agreed to pay a £1.3m regulatory settlement following an investigation by the Gambling Commission.
As part of the regulator’s ongoing compliance work, the Commission identified failings in the way White Hat Gaming identified and managed customers who were at higher risk of money laundering and problem gambling.
The failures occurred on the operator’s Grandivy.com, 21casino.com, Hellocasino.com and Dreamvegas.com brands between October 2016 and March 2019.
The regulator said that inadequate anti-money laundering and social responsibility procedures led to failures including not establishing the source of funds for a customer who lost £70,000 in three months, and ineffective interaction with a second customer who lost £50,000 in six hours and a third customer who lost £85,000 in just over one hour.
The operator’s £1.3m payment in lieu of a financial penalty will be directed towards delivering the National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms. White Hat Gaming has also committed to an ongoing programme of improvements to strengthen its policies and procedures.
These improvements include the automated prevention of more spending once limits are hit, an increase in safer gambling customer interactions, more robust source of funds checks and regular reviews of anti-money laundering controls and processes.
“Through our tough compliance and enforcement activity we will continue our work to raise standards in the industry and continue to hold failing operators to account,” said Gambling Commission executive director Richard Watson.