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BetVictor will pay a settlement penalty of just over £2m for failures in anti-money laundering (AML) and social responsibility policies, as well as fairness in terms and conditions, the UK Gambling Commission has said.
The commission said it found no evidence of effective due diligence in most accounts it reviewed, with triggers allowing some players to spend large sums of money before affordability and source of funds were established.
Risk reviews on winning players were taken “in an inconsistent manner”, the commission said.
Gibraltar-based BetVictor, also known as BV Gaming, operates websites betvictor.com, betvictor.mobi, hbingo.co.uk, heartbingo.co.uk and parimatch.co.uk.
Settlement money will go to the National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms.
BetVictor’s AML policies did not adequately include provisions for high-rollers or players using multiple accounts and risk assessments lacked detail for such a large company, the commission said.
It found no evidence that sufficient details were being provided by the player to support open-source research that could have determined appropriate levels of due diligence and monitoring, the regulator said.
There were also no controls in place to ensure that gamblers who requested restrictions received those restrictions.
The commission found an over-reliance on automated thresholds, which did not allow for AML functions to consider individual player risk.
There was no evidence of enhanced due diligence of VIP players taking place after they were signed up, the commission said.
BetVictor’s terms and conditions were also not clear on handling of inactive accounts and the commission found one promotion that was unclear on how it could be amended or cancelled by the operator.
Operators are allowed to cancel or amend promotions, but not to affect players who have already signed up for that promotion, the commission said.
Problems were serious and resembled cases previously identified by the commission as problems, and senior management should have been aware of the failings.
But BetVictor’s case was mitigated by the fact it identified the problems early, cooperated with investigators and has taken steps to remedy violations.
