On February 27, 2020, the UK Gambling Commission assessed a £3 million penalty against Mr. Green Limited, an online casino operator headquartered in Malta, for failing to have effective procedures aimed at preventing harm and money laundering. The Gambling Commission’s investigation revealed systemic failings in anti-money laundering controls and social responsibility, including:
• accepting outdated evidence of a £176,000 claims payout as evidence of a customer’s source of funds, when the customer deposited over £1 million
• accepting a photograph of a laptop screen for proof of source of funds in a crypto trading account
• failing to carry out social responsibility interaction with a customer who won £50,000 and gambled it away
The Gambling Commission determined that Mr. Green did not have effective and adequately resourced AML controls, policies and processes, and that due to these deficiencies Mr. Green contravened License condition 12.1.1, which requires money laundering and terrorist financing risk assessments, the implementation of appropriate AML and anti-terrorist financing policies, procedures and controls.
Mr Green is the ninth gambling organization to face enforcement action in a regulatory investigation that began in 2018.
Gambling Commission news release