The UK Gambling Commission Fines Kindred’s Platinum Gaming £1.6 Million for Money Laundering and Social Responsibility Failures

Platinum Gaming Limited, a subsidiary of the Kindred Group, a gambling operator licensed by the UK Gambling Commission, Gibraltar, Malta and as of a half year ago regulated by Sweden, has been fined by the UK regulator for failing to recognize gambling harm and prevent money laundering. The operator has failed to identify a fraudster gambling and laundering money through its website.

Out of the £1.6 million fine, £629,420 will be given back to the fraudster’s victims, and £990,200 as a penalty to the UK Gambling Commission.

Platinum Gaming to Pay £1.6 Million

After receiving a report that a convicted criminal had spent an insane amount of stolen money playing at Platinum Gaming, the UK Gambling Commission launched an investigation. The investigation revealed that the players’ deposits and stakes were so high, and losses were so significant that the operator should have identified suspicious activity, and bar or refuse service to the player. Instead, Platinum Gaming continued to allow the player to deposit, gamble and lose.

The operator also breached anti-money laundering rules, failing to make an adequate and needed enquiry about the source of the significant amount of money the player had used to gamble.

As part of the settlement, the operator agreed to return the £629,420 to the victims of the fraudster and pay £990,200 fine to the UK Gambling Commission.

The UK Gambling Commission explained in its announcement that the operator was transparent and open during the investigation and able to make a disclosure of material facts promptly to the Commission. Furthermore, the regulator stated that Platinum Gaming was prepared to contribute to the direct costs with no complaints, and pay the UK Gambling Commission the financial penalty, in addition to paying back the victims of the fraudster the money that was stolen from them.

The regulator takes these cases seriously and is always on alert, fining operators who fail to identify or try to hide money laundering activities. 32Red, a brand under the Kindred Group umbrella, was fined for the same reason with a much bigger penalty. 32Red had to pay £6.2 million just last year.

The Statement by the UK Gambling Commission

The UK Gambling Commission’s Executive Director, Richard Watson, said that Platinum Gaming’s systems had a weakness and consequently, more than half a million of stolen money managed to flow through the business and go unnoticed. This, as stressed out by the Executive Director, was not acceptable, so he urged all other operators who are licensed by the UK Gambling Commission to carefully read Platinum Gaming’s case and learn the lesson so that they don’t make the same mistakes.

He said that Platinum Gaming’s case was yet another example of the UK Gambling Commission taking firm action against operators who fail to protect their players or implement effective measures against money laundering. The UK Gambling Commission must, Watson said, see the industry stepping up and providing British players with the fairest and safest gambling market in the world. Watson finished his statement saying that should they continue seeing failings, they will continue to take action.

The money of the £990,200 penalty, as the UK Gambling Commission shared, will be spent with the purpose to accelerate the delivery of the National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms.