£6m fine for online gaming operator Gamesys

Online gaming operator Gamesys has been fined £6 million for social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures, the regulator said.

Gamesys, which operates 16 websites including ballycasino.co.uk, doublebubblebingo.com, jackpotjoy.com and megawayscasino.com, will also have to undergo a third-party audit to ensure it is effectively carrying out its anti-money laundering and safer gambling policies, procedures and controls, the Gambling Commission said.

Its failures included only contacting one customer once they had lost almost £10,000 and carrying out just one “responsible gambling interaction” with a consumer who lost £19,709 over five months.

Some customers were able to evade anti-money laundering triggers to go on to spend significant sums without checks, including one who deposited £14,585 in a 28-week period, another who deposited £18,884 in just over six months and a third who deposited £34,280 in five and a half months.

Gambling Commission executive director of operations Kay Roberts said: “Our focus as a regulator is to ensure that operators are employing policies and procedures which make gambling fair, safe and crime-free.

“We take this responsibility extremely seriously and whenever we find failures in policies and procedures then the business can expect significant regulatory action.”

Gambling with Lives co-chairwoman Liz Ritchie said: “We know of three families who have lost people they will mourn for the rest of their lives because of the failings of this one company, and this is no doubt the tip of an iceberg.

“As we’ve seen with the Post Office scandal, the devastation that lies behind corporate negligence is beyond measurement or words.

“The deaths aren’t stopping, the suffering isn’t stopping, but the gambling companies get to continue operating.

“Fines are not working – when will the Gambling Commission take real action and remove licences when failures lead to deaths?”