The regulator reported today (27 March) that The Football Pools, which runs four UK websites, had failed to comply with its licence conditions and codes of practice.
When AML thresholds were reached, the operator’s processes did not initiate hard stops during the Commission’s investigation. These only kicked in when a “manual” review was taken.
The Commission added: “Manual reviews did not always occur promptly, which meant that hard stops were not put in place in a timely manner, if at all.”
It was also found to have been “overly reliant” on financial triggers to identify users with high risk levels of terrorist financing and money laundering.
Officials at The Football Pools noted it had incidents of delays when creating risk profiles for customers. In some cases, no risk profile was created after financial triggers had been hit. The operator was found to have had delays of 25 days on average.
Speaking on the case, the Gambling Commission’s director of enforcement, John Pierce, said the case demonstrated the operator’s approach to AML risk profiling was “insufficient”.
Pierce added it had allowed high-risk engagement on its sites without completing the “necessary” enhanced due diligence checks of its customers.
The Commission’s investigation took place between September 2022 and August 2023. The Football Pools reached a settlement with the regulator that will see it pay £375,000 in lieu of a financial penalty.
When considering its regulatory action, the Commission noted the operator took swift action to address its failings and had co-operated fully with the investigation.
The Football Pools social responsibility failures
The Football Pools was also found to have failed to comply with its social responsibility licence conditions, which are included in its settlement.
The regulator found the operator had an “ineffective” internal system in place that caused delays in safer gambling actions being taken.
Its systems were found to “overly focus” on financial triggers, some of which the Commission said were set too high.
The watchdog added there was no evidence of sufficient reviews of customer interactions. Examples were discovered of users gambling for long periods of time and depositing high levels of money in short periods.
Additionally, the system was not sending safer gambling messages to users who had opted out of marketing.
Compounding these issues, the Commission noted The Football Pools had a “large” backlog of risk profiles that had yet to be created due to a lack of staff.
The operator has several safer gambling financial triggers in place to spot potential harm. However, the watchdog found customers were not always engaged with when they had reached the financial triggers.
“While it is recognised that necessary improvements have been made by the licensee following the completion of the compliance assessment, the Commission will take further action if these standards are not maintained,” the regulator warned.
Original article: https://igamingbusiness.com/legal-compliance/regulation/the-football-pools-hit-with-regulatory-action-over-aml-failures/
