SkillOnNet agrees settlement for UK AML failures

Britain’s Gambling Commission has agreed a six-figure settlement with online gaming operator SkillOnNet for social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures.

The operator will pay £305,150 in lieu of a financial penalty as a part of its settlement, with the proceeds to be directed to socially responsible causes.

The penalty relates to breaches of the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) and follows a regulatory review which found that the operator had insufficient policies, procedures and controls to comply with its Anti-Money Laundering (AML) responsibilities.

The review also found deficiencies in SkillOnNet’s responsible gambling policies, procedures, controls and practices, including weaknesses in implementation, between January 2021 and December 2022.

Failures included a lack of appropriate procedures to consider customers’ salaries or wealth in order to identify disproportionate spend, failure to recognise night play as a marker of harm, and allowing customers to spend more than double the maximum limit on unverified payment methods.

In addition to the £305,150 settlement, SkillOnNet will also pay £9,079 towards the Commission’s costs of investigating the case.