Gambling Enforcement News: Record Fines And Doubling Down on Duty Of Care

Allegra Lapetina

February 22, 2024

Enforcement activity against regulated gambling operations has risen sharply over the past five years, especially in Europe and Australia, amid heightened policy scrutiny of advertising, responsible gambling and anti-money laundering (AML) shortcomings.

In this blog, we provide an overview of the gambling enforcement landscape on a global level, and highlight notable trends and significant enforcement actions from 2023, using our Enforcement Tracker - a consolidated platform that tracks enforcement actions undertaken against licensed gambling operators across the globe.

Enforcement Actions by Numbers

Total number of fines issued in 2023:

North America: 265
Europe: 194
Oceania: 41

Highest financial penalty/settlement agreement issued: £585m

Three most common violations:

Advertising violations -51: Violations in this category include failure to adhere to advertising rules such as inducement restrictions or required warning messages. ‍
Anti-money laundering violations -46: Violations in this category include failure to adhere to AML regulations such as know your customer (KYC) requirements and suspicious activity report procedures. ‍
Self-exclusion violations - 38: Violations in this category include failure to adequately follow self-exclusion policies and procedures.

Noteworthy Enforcement Actions

Feb 2023: The Ohio Casino Control Commission approved two fines against DraftKings totalling US$500,000 for responsible gambling violations.
March 2023: The UK Gambling Commission issued penalties to three William Hill Group businesses for social responsibility and anti-money laundering (AML) failures.
APril 2023: Swedish Gambling Authority (Spelinspektionen) announced it had fined Hillside ENC a total of SEK79m (approx. €7m) for failing to take adequate steps to protect players from gambling excessively.
July 2023: Crown Resorts confirmed that the Australian federal court had issued its judgement in respect to the agreement between Crown and AUSTRAC, following civil penalty proceedings started by AUSTRAC in March 2022.
August 2023: The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) announced a C$100,000 fine to Apollo Entertainment for violations of its internet gaming responsible standards.
November 2023: Entain announced a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with the UK Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) over its former Turkish-facing business.

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This is just a sample from our Quarterly Enforcement Analysis report, available to Vixio subscribers only, which leverages data from the Vixio Enforcement Tracker to bring you the latest enforcement actions in gambling, to help businesses stay abreast of how regulatory enforcement actions are evolving through seeing the consequences of non-compliance.

Not yet a subscriber?

Get in touch or book a demo with a member of the Vixio team, who can walk you through how your business could be benefitting from the Enforcement Tracker, and other tools on offer from Vixio GamblingCompliance.

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