Gambling – William Hill to pay £6.2m penalty

It is being reported that following earlier examples such as BetFred and Paddy Power, William Hill Group have been made subject to a penalty package of at least £6.2m (second largest fine issued by the Gambling Commission) following an investigation by the Commission into potential money laundering.

The investigation uncovered systemic failings and evidence of 10 customers laundering money from criminal enterprises through the platform.  William Hill made initial profits of £1.2m from the activity, which is now overshadowed by the penalty.

The Gambling Commission have published on their website a number of examples of how William Hill failed including: 

• A customer was allowed to deposit £541,000 over 14 months after the operator made the assumption that the customer’s potential income could be £365,000 per annum based on a verbal conversation and without further probing. The reality was that the customer was earning around £30,000 a year and was funding his gambling habit by stealing from his employer.
• A customer was identified by William Hill as having an escalating gambling spend with deposit levels exceeding £100,000. William Hill interacted with the customer seeking assurance that the customer was ‘comfortable with their level of spend’. After receiving verbal assurance and without investigating the wider circumstances the operator continued to allow the customer to gamble. In our view that interaction was inadequate and did not review the customer’s behaviour sufficiently to identify if their behaviour was indicative of problem gambling.

All Operators are advised by the Commission to read the regulatory settlement concerning this investigation, which can be found here.

The lessons of these various investigations can be summarised as the need for robust policies and effective controls.  The struggle for remote Operators to effectively meet these challenges from the anonymising prism of the internet and a business with a huge clientele continues to be illustrated by these cases.

Along with the Commission the  Competition and Markets Authority Investigation continues, the industry and its practices remain under the microscope.

We shall keep you updated.