Hold onto your hats! UKGC White Paper for gambling is near! Plus check out three UKGC fines totalling £ 6,880,381 between 16 & 25 Jan 2023! (Photo by Elena Joland on Unsplash)
What a news round-up this is! If you like to follow regulatory news, then we have plenty of it here on Livecasinocentral. In this report, the focus is on the UK gambling market, which operates under the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC).
Firstly, and for those of you following this, the ‘White Paper’. Paul Scully (The UK Gambling Minister) has officially announced that it is on the verge of being made public. You can also read my pessimistic view on the topic. I actually support the UKGC and all the hard work, but I do believe external influences from British MPs who only care about advancing their careers will try to tear even the godly white paper! Rad more about that below. It’s fun I promise.
And below that rant, you will find out which companies have collectively dished out £ 6,880,381 to the UKGC in regulatory fines. Yes, £ 6,880,381! It’s not a typo, and it is only January! Who needs gambling reform and white paper with fines this large as a deterrent?
UKGC White Paper in its Final Stage
The long-awaited UKGC white paper is on the verge of release. Currently, gambling companies in both the land-based retail and online gambling sectors of the UK market have been operating with an unknown future ahead. Although the white paper is something we all knew was coming, the lengthy wait can only be described as frustrating.
Delays to the final release of the document include Covid, awaiting a newly appointed UK Gambling Minister (now Paul Scully), and economic uncertainty have created insecurity. However, finally, the wait is drawing close to an end.
News that the final touches are being applied came at the recent Betting and Gaming Council’s (BGC) annual general meeting came via a speech from the Gambling Minister himself. He has lauded the white paper as the answer to putting the UK industry back on track and finding the right balance for the market to become a world leader.
Personally, I won’t hold my breath. The team at the UKGC and supporting organisations have clearly put a lot of effort into the project. And although I would like to remain optimistic, it’s not a new scenario. The Gambling Act in 2005, then reviews, amendments and revamps of the framework were all lauded as ‘the answer’ in the past.
However, the usual scenario is parliamentary figures who are not responsible for the gambling industry start to point the finger at casinos and sports betting. As a result, the hard work apart comes apart because these MPs (mentioning no names) by blaming the problems in society on the lack of gambling regulations. Yes, those regs that dish out million Sterling fines – I mean give over.
In the end, the real issue is that gambling is the obvious go-to topic for ministers either trying to win votes or deflect focus from another issue. Some who are not doing their job properly go as far as using the touchy topic of gambling as a diversion for their own misgiving in the government areas they are responsible for. They seem to have no qualms about wasting taxpayers’ money spent on the hard work put into Gamble Act, and I can see the same happening to the ‘White Paper’.
It is a pessimistic view I know. However, you must look at the consistency of a certain outcome, and some UK parliamentary figures have a habit of picking on (bullying) sore subjects, and they see gambling as an easy scapegoat.
With the latest round of work put into the UKGC white paper, that’s resources and money that could have been spent elsewhere. Hopefully, Paul Scully and his team have made the white paper airtight against MPs who unscrupulously attack all gambling papers for personal gain resulting in more taxpayers’ money wasted.
UKGC Dishes Out £ 6,880,381 in Fines to Three Gambling Companies During January 2023
Between 17 and 25 January 2023, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) fined three companies for a variety of regulatory misgivings. The total in fines amounts to £ 6,880,381. Fines this size should be a deterrent, and in many ways are. Genesis Global is insolvent due to fines, while Energy Casino (Probe Investments LTD), Novibet, Bet-at-Home, Mansion, LVbet and many more exited the market!
Which companies paid UKGC penalties in January?
- InTouch (£ 6.1m): It is the third time in three years InTouch has been hit with a 7-figure fine. The first was £ 2m (2019), then £ 3.4m (2021), and now £ 6.1m (2022). The company was in breach of multiple AML (Anti-money laundering) and social responsibility failures. One incident highlighted was a failure to check a customer’s source of funds who lost over £ 10k and another was the failure to follow up on a customer claiming to have a salary of £ 6k per month. There were several more failures discovered via a UKGC investigation.
- TontBet (£ 442,750): The company failed to display transparent and fair T&Cs (this is something any company should offer with clarity). Also, the UKGC flagged AML and social responsibility issues.
- Vivaro Limited (£ 337,631): There were numerous issues found such as having high AML thresholds, not monitoring players’ memberships, not supervising KYC checks adequately enough, and failing to track players with high-velocity spends.
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