The Gambling Commission in the UK, the regulatory body in charge of gambling, announced Thursday it imposed fines against two operators that are a part of Kindred Group. The fines, totaling £7.1 million ($8.7 million), were against Platinum Gaming Limited, as well as 32Red Limited.

The fine against Platinum Gaming Limited, imposed by the GC is £2,937,599 ($3.6 million), while the sanction against 32Red Limited is £4,195,655 ($5.16 million). The regulatory sanctions came along with an official warning from the gambling watchdog and follow an investigation that probed into the operations of the two online gambling companies.

GC Uncovers Breaches to AML, Social Responsibility

Upon announcing the sanctions, the Commission noted that Platinum Gaming breached social responsibility regulations after it “failed to identify and interact with customers who may have been experiencing harms associated with gambling.”

When it was investigated, the company also didn’t have effective policies that helped identify whether a single person had two separate accounts. Separately, the AML deficiencies for Platinum Gaming included “policies, procedures and controls” that according to the GC were not AML-appropriate.

On the other hand, the watchdog uncovered a higher number of breaches by 32Red, hence a bigger penalty. According to the GC, the operator failed social responsibility rules by not effectively identifying or protecting customers who may be at-risk or are problem gamblers. “32Red customer gambling session times should have prompted earlier identification of customers who may have been experiencing gambling-related harm,” said the Commission.

Additionally, the watchdog noted that 32Red did not thoroughly implement measures under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds regulations. Among other breaches, the operator had too high financial triggers for AML.

Kindred Confirms Similar Breaches Unlikely to Happen Again

Responding to the financial sanction, the parent company of the two operators, Kindred, said in a statement Thursday it will pay the penalties. The company acknowledged that some of its processes and systems in 2020 and early 2021 “were not in line with Commission expectations around affordability.”

“As a result of those actions taken, Kindred recognizes that similar cases to those highlighted by the Commission are unlikely to happen today within its new framework,“

explains a statement released by Kindred Group

Still, Kindred said that it has implemented changes and enforced a robust approach, helping it eliminate such breaches from occurring in the future. The company also noted that it continues to improve its processes related to compliance and has increased the number of team members in this vertical. Finally, Kindred said that thanks to its new framework and continuous efforts, breaches of such sort are unlikely to happen in the future.