In addition to the fine, the operator has received an official warning and has had conditions added to its licence. These licence conditions set out the action that the licensee must take in order to ensure that “thorough” due diligence checks are conducted.
“The licensee co-operated with the Commission throughout the investigation and took corrective steps to address the identified failings,” said the regulator.
The operator’s social responsibly failings included allowing customers to continue gamble without intervention, despite hitting multiple safer gambling alerts. The Commission also alleged that the business relied on automated interactions with consumers when users triggered safer gambling alerts.
TGP also did not assess the effectiveness of these interactions, or whether new approaches should be attempted like telephone interactions.
TGP white label risks
The Gambling Commission also made clear that the business was subject to a number of AML failures. These comprised a lack of money laundering and terrorist financing assessment which adequately addressed risk like players providing false or stolen identification, as well as risks associated with unusually large transactions.
In addition, TGP was disciplined for a number of AML failures particular to its business as a white label operator. The company was seen as “not adequately” considering and mitigating the money laundering risks posed by the operator’s B2B relationships. The GC also said that the operator did not have effective policies and procedures in place for necessary due diligence undertaken before entering into white label agreements.
The business operates 19 websites through a number of white label deals, including a number of Asian-facing gambling companies such as Leyubet.co.uk, Fun88.co.uk and Oubao.co.uk. TGP also runs the UK websites of several crypto casinos such as Stake.uk.com and Duelbits.co.uk. While crypto betting itself is currently illegal under UK law, the white label deal allows the businesses to legally advertise, as well as receive the authorisation to sponsor sports teams.
Specific breaches
The Commission said that – following a review of TGP’s licence – the regulator found that it breached a number of specific sections of its licence. These included the first, second and third paragraphs of licence condition 12.1.1 concerning AML procedures, licence condition 12.12 AML provision for operators based in foreign jurisdictions.
The Commission also said that TGP “failed to comply” with the social responsibly code of practice (SRCP) 3.4.1 regarding customer interaction, as well as Ordinary code provision (OCP) 2.1.1 concerning AML guidance.
Original article: https://igamingbusiness.com/legal-compliance/tgp-fined-316k-by-commission/
