Online casino operators slapped with £4.5m penalties by Gambling Commission
The UK Gambling Commission issued penalty packages totalling £4.5m to four companies on Wednesday as part of an ongoing investigation into money laundering and consumer safety in online casinos.
InTouch Games Limited has been slapped with a penalty package of £2.2m, while Betit Operations Limited will pay £1.4m, MT Secure Trade will pay £700,000 and BestBet Limited will pay a total of £230,972.
The penalty packages follow 18 months of investigation into 123 online casino operators, with 45 of these operators having been told to formulate action plans to raise standards and 38 operators showing signs of improvement.
Meanwhile, 34 operators were compliant with standards or had only minor issues which have been, or are in the process of being remedied, while five operators have surrendered their licence and can no longer transact with consumers in Britain.
In November last year, the same investigation resulted in Daub Alderney, Casumo and Videoslots being issued with nearly £14m in penalty packages as result of their failings to put in place effective safeguards to prevent money laundering and keep consumers safe from gambling-related harm.
Richard Watson, Gambling Commission executive director, said: "We have been working hard to raise standards in the online industry to ensure that gambling is crime-free and that the one in five people in Britain who gamble online every month can do so safely. But our work will not stop here. As a regulator, we will continue to set and enforce standards that the industry must comply with to protect consumers."