AG Communications Limited, which trades as AspireGlobal and runs 58 websites, is to pay £1,407,834 after a UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) investigation identified social responsibility and anti-money laundering (AML) failures.
As part of its settlement with the UKGC, AG Communications will pay the money to socially responsible causes.
This is also the second time AG Communications has been subject to regulatory action by the UKGC, as the operator paid £237,600 for AML failures in 2022.
“This case marks the second occasion that this operator has been subject to enforcement action,” commented John Pierce, Commission Director of Enforcement.
“Its failure to uphold anti-money laundering standards, delays in necessary interventions, and deficiencies in social responsibility measures are wholly unacceptable.”
The UKGC stated that AG Communications’ social responsibility failures included not having effective systems to stop customers from spending significant amounts in a short period before an assessment was made to determine if they were potentially at risk of gambling-related harm.
This raised concerns that the “velocity of spend was not identified or acted upon quickly enough”.
Other failures highlighted included a failure to conduct a safer gambling interaction despite one customer losing £6,000 in 48 hours. The Commission noted that “a telephone interaction was attempted but only when the daily loss limit of £5,000 in 24 hours was reached”.
In addition, another customer deposited and lost £7,000 in just over four hours in the early hours. The UKGC said the customer played through a backstop in place at the time “due to a system error which failed to prevent the customer from depositing above the backstop limit” and that a “manual review of the customer did not identify the fact they had played through the backstop trigger”.
The Commission also stated that one customer opened “a significant number of gambling accounts despite the fact they had previously self-excluded”.
As for AML failures by AG Communications, the UKGC noted that the operator’s AML/Counter Terrorist Financing policies and procedures were “too reliant on financial thresholds”.
The UKGC said that although customers hit a medium, medium/high or high AML risk score, they “were not subject to a manual Enhanced Customer Due Diligence (ECDD) check until a financial trigger was hit”.
There were also delays in completing ECDD checks when financial thresholds were reached, as one customer “did not have an ECDD review conducted until a week later” after reaching the financial threshold.
The Commission also stated that AG Communications failed to follow its policy regarding ECDD checks, as one customer that reached the financial threshold but didn’t have a high AML risk score “did not have a manual ECDD review until eight days later” which “was contrary to AG Communications Limited’s policy”.
Pierce continued: “Today’s outcome underscores the gravity of these breaches. It is essential that operators not only implement and maintain robust anti-money laundering policies, procedures, and controls but also act swiftly and decisively in response to any indications of suspicious activity.
“Effective social responsibility measures must be in place at all times to ensure that consumers identified as at risk receive timely and appropriate intervention.
“This case stands as a clear warning to all operators that repeated regulatory failings will result in increasingly stringent enforcement action.”
