In Touch Games, an online multi-brand operator, was put to the sword by the UK Gambling Commission for failures in social responsibility, anti-money laundering (AML), and marketing practices.
Fine and LCCP Compliance Audit
The under-fire gambling regulator dished a £3.4 million sanction to the company which runs online casino brands MFortune, MrSpin, CashMo, PocketWin, and SlotFactory, in addition to ordering it to undergo an independent assessment with regards to compliance with the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP).
“Through our challenging compliance and enforcement activity we will continue our work to raise standards in the industry and continue to hold failing operators to account.”
Richard Watson, Executive Director, Gambling Commission
The Gambling Commission, facing public scrutiny with regards to its failure to protect customers at sports betting platform Football Index, which recently went into administration and left its clients’ funds trapped on the platform, undertook enforcement action against the online casino brands operator due to failure in three areas: social responsibility, AML, and fair and transparent terms and practices.
Areas of Failure
In Touch Games failed its social responsibilities by stating in its interaction with customers that a bonus may be offered if a customer provides identification.
In addition, seven customers who were showing signs of problem gambling were not treated as per the operator’s policies and procedures concerning such behavior, which led to not using all relevant sources of information to provide effective decision making and ignoring placing mandatory limits on the customers’ accounts.
With regards to AML failures, the Gambling Commission noted the company’s risk assessment did not take into account the risk of using a cryptocurrency exchange as a payment provider for customers.
In Touch Games also failed to conduct enhanced due diligence for customers at the appropriate levels of their gambling spend, and did not properly review information clients provided related to their source of funding.
The Gambling Commission identified In Touch Games failed to comply with fair and transparent terms and practices in its interaction with customers. The operator did state neither the minimum nor the maximum deposit in the terms of an offer sent to customers via messages and failed to specify in the SMS text the time limit for claiming the bonus offer.
Besides issuing an official warning and a fine to the operator, the UK gambling regulator ordered In Touch Games, as part of a new license condition and at its own expense, to undergo an independent audit of its procedures and practices to ensure full compliance with LCCP.