Three casino operators owned by Rank Group will pay £5 million after the gambling watchdog found a series of due diligence failures, including around a customer using crypto assets to gamble.
The Gambling Commission said Grosvenor Casinos Limited, Grosvenor Casinos (GC) Limited and Gaming Group Limited run 51 casinos across Britain. They are owned by Rank Group, a FTSE-listed business which also runs Mecca bingo halls and online casinos.
Investigation findings
The regulator’s investigation into the venues identified failures to meet anti-money laundering and social responsibility duties.
This included having unclear policies, procedures and controls which resulted in inappropriate risk levels being ascribed to high-risk customers and high-risk sources of funds being used without appropriate scrutiny, the review found.
It used examples of records showing a customer using cryptocurrency assets as a source of their funds, and a customer identified as a student from China, neither of whom were ascribed higher than the standard risk levels.
Due diligence failures
In these cases, enhanced due diligence checks should have been carried out, according to the Gambling Commission.
The review found that the managers of each venue had a level of autonomy to make certain decisions which resulted in instances where evidence of funds or the sources of wealth belonging to customers was obtained but not scrutinised.
In one case, this resulted in a customer losing significant funds that may or may not have been their own, according to the findings.
Safer gambling concerns
It also identified instances where staff did not have safer gambling interactions with customers at risk of experiencing harm.
An example included a long-standing customer who won about £260,000 in a short space of time then lost about £250,000 in 12 days, without safer gambling interactions being recorded.
In other instances cited in the review, customers who displayed concerning behaviours or inappropriate spending were permitted to play for extended periods or lose significant amounts before their play was suspended.
Sue Young, the Gambling Commission’s executive director of operations, said: “We would advise all premises-based operators to take a careful look at this case and ensure their own business is not making the same mistakes and, therefore, they do not face costly and inevitable commission action.”
Company response
Rank told investors that it had set aside £5 million in its yearly accounts for the proposed settlement with the regulator, and that there would be no further impact to its profits since the completion of the review.
The company said the payment related to “historical venues” at Grosvenor venues and that “remedial actions have been substantially completed”.
The Gambling Commission has investigated other gambling groups recently including Paddy Power Betfair, which uncovered failures to step in quickly enough when customers were showing concerning betting behaviours. The company, owned by Flutter Entertainment, agreed to pay £2 million in December over the social responsibility failures.
