The Gibraltar Gambling Commission has reached a £2.9 million (€3.4 million/$3.7 million) settlement with 888 over a subsidiary’s failures to properly vet VIPs from the Middle East.
The subsidiary, Virtual Global Digital Services Ltd., which includes William Hill, was found to have employed ineffective know your customer (KYC) routines for high rollers, including failing to verify addresses. The commission found that enhanced due diligence (EDD) probes were not wielded consistently.
888, which has headquarters in Gibraltar, also over relied on open-source checks and didn’t ask customers to provide proof of sources of funds.
This probe, which it did in cooperation with the commission, led to the resignation of CEO Itai Pazner. And to 888 adopting new policies and procedures so that these violations do not occur in the future. The subsidy also suspended all impacted accounts and agreement to pay a settlement of £2.9 million.
According to the commission, “Gibraltar licensees are expected to factor the learnings from this case into their own risk assessments, systems and controls.”
It added, “888 continues to be considered a fit and proper entity to hold licenses in Gibraltar. 888 has enhanced its policies and procedures in remediating the identified historical deficiencies.”
