The UK Gambling Commission continues to increase its scrutiny over the operations of gaming companies, and holding those which do not follow the rules accountable.
In a recent statement, the UKGC has issued a combined £1.3m in total fines to two online casino companies for failing to adhere to social responsibility regulations. The companies in question are:
- Rank Digital Gaming Ltd. (Alderney) received a £700,557 ($954,275) fine for social responsibility violations. This company runs websites such as Mecca Games, Mecca Bingo, Grosvenor Casino, and Bella Casino
- Annexio Ltd. (Jersey) got a £612,000 ($833,645) fine for social responsibility and money laundering failings. Annexio manages the LottoGo platform
Both of these companies have actively cooperated with the UKGC during the course of the investigation. It was found that the breaches occurred some time between 2019 and 2021, which included customer interaction failures, not having proper measures to identify duplicate accounts, and failing to stop Rank self-excluders from creating an account.
Setting High Standards
The UKGC regularly issues fines for minor breaches in order to keep a high standard within the gaming industry. In some cases, it has even fully suspended the gambling licence for an operator – as was the case for BGO Entertainment in 2021.
Despite the bad news for these two companies, this shows the UKGC’s commitment to high standards in terms of the upkeep of regulatory compliance, as well as the Commission’s ongoing changes to improve responsible gaming for UK players.
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