The U.K. Gambling Commission (UKGC) has fined Entain £17 million (€20.3 million/$20.6 million) —a record amount—saying it is not doing enough to protect consumers from gambling addiction or fight money laundering.
These are the second regulatory settlements by Entain in three years. In 2019, the company was fined £5.9 million for similar infractions.
The amount Entain will pay is technically not a fine. Rather, it is a settlement paid to “social responsibility causes,” something the gaming company agreed to in order to avoid further legal proceedings.
Its brands Ladbrokes.com, Coral.co.uk and Foxybingo.com., as well as its land-based operator Ladbrokes Betting & Gaming Limited (LBG) could also lose their licenses to operate in the country if infractions continue, the UKGC warned.
There was no mention of Entain’s 50-50 partnership with MGM Resorts on BetMGM. Entain has been licensed in all the states where BetMGM operates but some states showed reluctance. The fine will raise some eyebrows among U.S. regulators but a license removal would be seen as a serious incident requiring a second look at Entain’s suitability.
The UK commission uncovered these “completely unacceptable” incidents as part of its review of the 2005 gambling law in anticipation of extensive amendments. In one of the incidents, Entain engaged in just one chat interaction with a customer who gambled through the night for long periods for a year and a half—after he deposited £230,845.
In another incident, a customer whose account with Coral was blocked due to betting concerns was allowed to create a different account with a different Entain brand and put £30,000 in it all at once. Another customer deposited £742,000 over many months without a check to see if they could afford it.
Some customers lost large amounts of money without the casino checking on their source of funds, as required by law.
As part of the run-up to amending the gambling law, a white paper on the subject was supposed to have been released in June. However, the chaos created by the resignation of Prime Minister Boris Johnson has put that on hold until the Conservative party chooses a new leader.
Besides fining Entain, the commission is requiring the company to implement an “improvement plan” to plug up holes and tighten protocols to fight addiction and prevent money laundering.
UKGC CEO Andrew Rhodes commented, “This is the second time this operator has fallen foul of rules in place to make gambling safer and crime free,” adding, “There were completely unacceptable anti-money laundering and safer gambling failures. Operators are reminded they must never place commercial considerations over compliance.”
He warned that Entain should know, “that we will be monitoring them very carefully and further serious breaches will make the removal of their license to operate a very real possibility. We expect better and consumers deserve better.”
That would be a first, as no gambling license has ever been revoked in Great Britain.
An Entain board member will be tagged with overseeing a new business plan that will include changes to procedures. A third-party audit of compliance will be required within a year.
As part of the agreement to pay the settlement, Entain accepted that its procedures “were not in line with the evolving regulatory expectations of the commission in respect to aspects of social responsibility and anti-money laundering safeguards.” It also accepted flaws and vulnerabilities in the procedures that allow some customers to deposit large amounts without any required check on the source of the funds.
But it also pointed out that the commission had found no evidence of criminal activity in its operations. It added that Entain has installed new, stricter controls, including artificial intelligence that can identify at-risk players.
