Alderney-licensed egamer made to pay £1m. in lieu of fine
An Alderney-licensed egaming operator has been forced to pay £1m. to socially responsible causes in lieu of a fine by the UK gambling regulator due to lax procedures over the risk of money laundering.
It is the second time that Greentube Alderney Ltd, trading as Admiral Casino, has fallen foul of the UK Gambling Commission.
In 2021 the operator paid out £685,000 after a commission investigation revealed social responsibility and money laundering failures. A follow-up inspection revealed further issues.
Anti money-laundering failings included a failure to scrutinise information, enabling the potential escalation of money-laundering risks, failing to mitigate the risk of clients with ‘risky occupations’, and failing to fully investigate accounts which appeared to have links to other accounts and not understanding who might have control of numerous accounts. It also was considered to have failed customers in terms of understanding sources of income, validating documentation and failing to identify potential client vulnerabilities.
The Commission said that Greentube, which appears to be headquartered in Vienna, but regulated in Alderney, would continue to be monitored.
‘This case arose from a follow-up compliance assessment designed to ensure the operator had continued to apply lessons learned from previous regulatory action,’ said John Pierce, director of enforcement at the Gambling Commission.
‘While we noted that the business had made significant general improvements, further regulatory breaches were still identified. The operator was subsequently required to swiftly put in place an effective action plan designed to remedy all of the identified failings.’
We want to remind all operators that any business found to breach rules designed to keep gambling safe and free from crime for a second time should expect increasingly stringent enforcement action.
‘Any failure to uphold anti-money laundering standards is unacceptable, and today’s action reflects the gravity of the breaches identified.’
Greentube operates slots, video bingo and poker games, table games and server-based gaming. It launched as a gaming company in 1998 and became part of the Novomatic Group, one of the largest gaming technology companies in the world with more than 25,000 employees worldwide, in 2010.
