Penalties and loss of licence - British supervisor of gambling publishes yearly report

The British supervisory authority of gambling UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) is well known for severely punishing its licence holders for misconduct. Many German speaking online casinos have operated with this gambling licence in the past. The main aim of the authorities is to set secure standards both online and offline and to campaign for fair and responsible gambling.

A few days ago, the UKGC published the yearly compliance, i.e. the enforcement report. In the last financial year there were a total of 350 so called Compliance-Checks, spread out on both online and land based casinos. But which individual cases did the British gambling authorities follow up on and which consequences did the responsible providers have to accept?

In some cases the gamblers criticise online casinos, that they are let down by the responsible supervising authorities. The idea is basically that the gamblers, who feel that they were treated in an unfair way or feel cheated, can turn to the gambling supervisors and a neutral party can then examine the case. It depends primarily on the gambling authorities whether this system functions or not. The British UK Gambling Commission as well as the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) are well known within the industry for their comparatively harsh crackdown. Now the UKGC has published its Annual Report for 2019.

30 Million GBP requested as fine

A total 350 Compliance Checks were carried out in 2019 by UKGC. Twelve fines amounting to a total sum of 30 million GBP followed. In today‘s currency exchange that would be around 33,48 million Euro. Besides this, the British UKGC stated that five providers had had their licence temporarily revoked. A further twelve providers had even lost the permit to market under the sought-after UKGC licence.

The Authority Manager, Neil McArthur once again stated in his statement that the providers have to abide by the licence regulations which are in force. Those who cannot or do not want to do this have to expect to lose the sought-after licence. McArthur stated:

In its Annual Report, the UKGC describes among other things, the serious breaches of 2019. The Supervising Authority wants to show the irresponsible behaviour of some gambling providers on the market.

Case1: 187,000 GBP lost within two days

In an online Casino it was made possible for a player to pay a total of 187.000 GBP over only two days. Converted those are nearly 209,000 euro. The player lost the total deposit amount and it was not investigated beforehand, if the player could actually afford to lose such a large sum.

Case 2: Casino provider is not interested in the source of income

In a further case, a provider was not interested in checking the source of income of his customers. This is necessary, especially in the case of higher deposits, to make sure that no money laundering is taking place.

Case 3: In spite of reference to credit, female player loses several thousand GBP

A guest at a land-based casino has lost around 18,000 GBP within a year. And this, even though the woman had advised the employees of the casino from the very beginning, that she is not playing with her own money, but with borrowed money.

UKGC – Foundation and Duties

The Gambling Commission was founded in September 2007 und is registered in Birmingham. The Authority is responsible in Great Britain among other things for monitoring land based casinos, slot machines, lotteries and betting. The UKGC is also responsible for the monitoring of online gambling. All licence holders are bound to oversee that gamblers are gambling with their own money. Gamblers must be able to proof, in cases of suspicion, that the gambled money is not being financed by bank credit.

Moreover the licence holders have to ensure that no minors make use of the casino services. This is not always an easy task, especially with online gambling. Besides, the gamblers should not be laundering money in gambling. In order to acquire a British gambling licence, the casinos must also proof that the company and gambling finances are kept separately.

To acquire the UKGC sought after Licence, the respective online casinos have to fill in a detailed application and pay at least 5,000 GBP. It takes at least 16 weeks till the licence is issued (or refused). In Great Britain one has to pay a tax of 15 % of the profits from the casino. This is clearly more than for example in Gibraltar, where companies have to pay only 1 %.

Conditions for a UKGC-Licence:

• Application costs: approx. 5,000 GBP
• Processing time : approx. 16 weeks
• Tax rate: 15 % of all profits
• Minors must be excluded from gambling
• Gambling money must be kept separate from the rest of the company assets
• Licence holders must ensure that gamblers are gambling with their own money
• Money laundering and other criminal activities must be actively prevented

British Gambling supervisor requests stronger cooperation with banks

Weeks ago the Authority manager of the UKGC had requested the finance industry to cooperate somewhat closer with the Gambling Authority. Last October , McArthur had explicitly offered cooperation with the banks, to be able to optimise the protection of the gambler. Some credit institutions had in recent past already accepted to block money transactions to gambling firms. Meanwhile in Great Britain these are Barclays, Bank of Scotland, HSBC, as well as the online bank Starling. If transactions to virtual gambling providers are monitored better, i.e. limited, than this could help millions of British, to control their gambling behaviour and will diminish the negative consequences.

Conclusion

It is a fact that the British gambling authorities are especially strict and therefore are considered gambler friendly. To acquire the sought-after licence, the applicants must fulfil a comprehensive profile of requirements and in cases where breaches are struck, they risk fines worth millions. The recently published Annual Report of UKGC shows, that the supervising authority is aware of its responsibility and if the occasion arises, it will crack down harshly. In fact, just in 2019 a total of twelve fines amounting to 30 million were issued and eleven providers had their licence completely revoked. The British authorities are now calling on their licence holders, to carry out their own compliance checks and remedy the detected deficiencies themselves, and thus they will be able to offer their gamblers a safer gambling environment.

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