The Gibraltar Gambling Care Foundation will receive £2.5 million from B2C operators which have failed to meet regulatory AML compliance.
Gibraltar Collects £2.5m from Operators over AML Failings
Gibraltar is stepping up its efforts on cracking down on operators that are now complying fully with the regulatory framework. Part of a wave of gaming regulatory upheavals across Europe, the Gibraltar Gambling Care Foundation has negotiated to receive a £2.5 million payment by seven operators which have failed to comply with anti-money laundering policies.
As a result, the affected parties will have to introduce changes to their compliance mechanisms to meet the criteria set out by the peninsula’s regulator. The present outcome is a result of a comprehensive review conducted by the Gibraltar Gambling Division which focused on analyzing AML practices used by B2C licensee-holders in relation to international customers based beyond the United Kingdom.
The watchdog chose not to name the parties involved in what it described “historic control weaknesses,” but all parties have undergone thorough scrutiny by the watchdog. Specifically, Gibraltar’s authorities focused on B2C operators.
Some B2C Operators Have Done Worse Than Others
Gibraltar has taken a closer look at the operations of numerous companies suspected of not fully meeting industry-set standards, establishing that some have indeed done worse off than others.
However, the authorities established that all reviewed brands had compliance measures in place, and that they had been improved incrementally over the period the review focused on. However, some risk tolerances seemed to be too high in some individual cases or a reaction from the operator has been too slow to be deemed ineffective.
The Gambling Division cited one case where a customer had stolen the money they had used to gamble with by forging documents and providing false information to justify the source of the funds and prove affordability.
However, despite such cases, the GGD assured that significant process has been made and operators are more willing than ever to actively seek and divest assets that may be the result of criminal activities or funded with money of unsafe origin.
Furthermore, the regulator will continue to scrutinize the operations of the reviewed operators and subject them to regular checks to ensure that they are compliant with consumer protection standards.
The payment will be used to conduct various training initiatives hosted by the Gambling Care Foundation and whatever is left will be channeled in a new Center of Excellence for Responsible Gambling at the Gibraltar University.
The center will be tasked with conducting research related to problem gambling, from early stages to treatment, to how to successfully identify and mitigate the issue.