Genesis Global continues to pay for infractions. The latest is a £3.8 million (US$5.2 million) fine served by the U.K. Gambling Commission which found the online casino operator guilty of social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures.
The commission has had a long history with Genesis, suspending its license in 2020 for a number of compliance issues. The company, which runs 14 sites, made some positive moves and the Commission gave them back their license to operate. But investigations went on and the agency imposed the fine, issued a warning and required auditing as a condition of its license, according to SBC News.
It’s social responsibility failures include lack of engagement with a nurse who spent £245,000 in three months on a meager salary, another lost £197,000 over six months, closed the account and opened a new one the same day. Genesis failed to interact with a customer who gambled away £234,000 in six weeks.
As for money laundering, Genesis requested a source of funds only after a customer flittered away £209,000 after assuming the individual in question was earning £111,000 due to a new job with a company that was dormant.
In a separate incident, a gambler deposited £1,300,000 and lost £600,000 before carrying out sufficient source of funds checks and was allowed to continue despite bank statements proving their finances were “clearly not enough to support the level of gambling.”
And finally, another player lost £107,000 over six months without any source of funds, with Genesis relying on the customer’s statement that they were being financially supported by factory-owning parents, despite bank statements showing no source of income, only transactions with other gambling firms.
“The commission will use all tools at its disposal to ensure consumer safety and that extends to stopping a business from actually operating
Failing to follow rules aimed at keeping gambling safe and crime-free will never be a viable business option for gambling businesses in Britain,” said Helen Venn, UKGC executive director.
This is the third sanctions handed out by the UKGC this month. Rank Digital Gaming and Annexio Ltd. got hit with a combined fine of £1.3 million for multiple social responsibility failures.
“The UKGC has issued a warning to the U.K. betting and gaming industry that the regulator will use all tools at its disposal to ensure consumer safety,” Venn said.
