Entain fined £17m for social responsibility, anti-money laundering failures

The company will pay £14m for failures at its online business LC International Limited, which runs 13 websites including ladbrokes.com, coral.co.uk and foxybingo.com. It will also pay £3m for failures at its Ladbrokes Betting & Gaming Limited operation which runs 2,746 gambling premises across Britain.

The fine will be directed towards socially responsible purposes as part of a regulatory settlement.

Gambling Commission chief executive Andrew Rhodes said: "Our investigation revealed serious failures that have resulted in the largest enforcement outcome to date.

"There were completely unacceptable anti-money laundering and safer gambling failures. Operators are reminded they must never place commercial considerations over compliance.

"This is the second time this operator has fallen foul of rules in place to make gambling safer and crime free.

"They should be aware that we will be monitoring them very carefully and further serious breaches will make the removal of their licence to operate a very real possibility. We expect better and consumers deserve better."

Entain said it had entered into the regulatory settlement with the GC to bring the matter to a close and avoid "further costly and protracted legal proceedings".

"Entain accepts that certain legacy systems and processes supporting the operations of its British business during 2019 and 2020 were not in line with the evolving regulatory expectations of the Commission in respect to aspects of social responsibility and anti-money laundering (AML) safeguards," it said.

"However, the group also notes the Commission's statement that it found no evidence whatsoever of criminal spend within Entain's operations."

At 1035 BST, the shares were down 3.5% at 1,357.50p.