by Patrick
Platinum Gaming
Platinum Gaming Fined GBP 1.6 Million by the UKGC
A recent announcement by the UKGC (the United Kingdom Gambling Commission) read that Platinum Gaming, the parent company of Unibet UK, will have to pay the substantial amount of GBP 1.6 million. The alleged reason behind the fine is the inability of Platinum Gaming to prevent money laundering and its failure in identifying harmful gambling activity.
The Commission has received information that a Platinum Gaming’s client who has previously stolen GBP 2 million, has been given access to gamble at the company’s online gambling websites. The amount he lost at Platinum stood at GBP 629,420.
According to the Commission, Platinum ignored clear indications of problem gambling activity like incurring significant losses from very large deposits. The Commission further stressed that the company should have prevented the person from gambling rather than allow the wager to continue.
Platinum Gaming did flag the player as “high-risk” but nonetheless did not do anything else to observe proper due diligence. Even when he came back to play at Platinum a few months later, the company made no effort to verify the source of his money. Only in October of last year, they asked him to fill out a source of wealth form. He did not complete the form and as a result his account was closed a month later.
As a result of the settlement between UKGC and Platinum, PGL will have to forgo the gambling amount of GBP 629,420. Furthermore, PGL will have to pay GBP 990,200, which the commission will use for accelerating the National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms as well as a fee of GBP 9,800 towards covering the investigative costs of the Commission.
According to Richard Watson, the Executive Director of UKGC, the weaknesses in the systems of the company have led to a large amount of stolen money flowing though its business, which is unacceptable
