UK Gambling Commission Sanctions Casumo’s Failings with £6M

The UK Gambling Commission took regulatory action against a second online gaming operator within the space of less than 10 days, dishing a £6 million fine to Casumo for failings in social responsibility and anti-money laundering (AML) procedures.

Malta-based sports betting and iGaming operator Casumo, much like the other operator sanctioned by the regulator recently, will also be officially warned by the Commission, besides the hefty financial sanction, due to the findings of the investigation covering the period between October 2019 and January 8, 2020.

Responsible Gambling Failures

The regulatory audit uncovered that Casumo failed to effectively implement policies and procedures related to customer interaction to identify and properly address potential problem gambling behavior.

As a result of the inadequate policies and procedures in place, Casumo allowed a customer to lose in the space of 3 years £1.1 million without subjecting the customer to a responsible gambling interaction, while a second customer parted with £65,000 in 1 month, also with no attempt from the operator for interaction as per its responsible gambling requirements.

Another example of responsible gambling interaction failure cited by the Commission was a third customer who lost £76,000 in 7 months and again, without being subjected to proper responsible gambling interaction by the gaming operator.

To underline the severity of the failure, the Gambling Commission pointed to two other occasions on which Casumo did not take into account the Commission’s guidance on responsible gambling interaction and failed to carry out any with one customer who lost £89,000 in the space of just 5 hours, and another one who lost £59,000 for only 90 minutes of play.

AML Failings

With regards to its obligations to implement effective AML procedures, Casumo was found lacking for allowing customers to deposit significant amounts without undertaking sufficient AML checks.

In cases where checks were made, these were insufficient regarding the source of funding as payslips and invoices were not paired with bank statements or other evidence for confirmation. Casumo even accepted winnings from other gambling companies as a source of funding without making the effort to investigate further.

Where bank statements were considered, these were not assessed appropriately, the Commission outlined, pointing to examples with incomplete bank statements showing only credits and having the balance figures redacted.

Documentation was not checked appropriately for authenticity and there was no assessment as to how much a customer can gamble with based on data with regards to income, wealth, or any other risk factors.

There was no evidence that Casumo ensured its policies, procedures, and controls were successfully implemented, reviewed, and updated whenever necessary as per any applicable learning or guidelines issued by the Commission.

“This case was brought about through planned compliance activity and every operator out there should be aware that we will continue to take firm action against those who fail to raise standards.”

Richard Watson, Executive Director, Gambling Commission

The Commission requested Casumo to undertake an independent audit of its post-July 1, 2020 transactions to make sure the new policies, procedures, and controls were properly implemented and compliant with the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP).