AspireGlobal Fined £1.4 Million By UK Gambling Commission
The UK’s Gambling Commission (UKGC) has told a major gambling company to pay a £1.4 million fine after it found various regulatory failings.
Key Facts:
- AspireGlobal runs 58 websites and trades as AG Communications Limited
- Social Responsibility (SR) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) failures were found
- This is the second time AG Communications Limited has faced regulatory action from UKGC
- Back in 2022 the operator had to pay £237,600 for AML failures
AspireGlobal, which trades as AG Communications Limited and runs 58 websites in total, has been told to pay £1.4 million by UKGC.
The firm previously paid £237,600 for AML failures, so this is the second time that AspireGlobal has fallen foul of the industry’s rules.
Casinoluck.com and Greenplay.com are two of the largest AspireGlobal brands, as well as the likes of Mrluck.com, Plaza Royal Casino, Magic Red Casino and Tangobet.com.
SR And AML Issues
A Gambling Commission investigation into AspireGlobal uncovered failures in social responsibility (SR) and anti-money laundering (AML).
On the SR side, AspireGlobal was found to lack effective systems to stop its customers from being able to spend significant amounts of money in a short period of time.
In one particularly notable example, one AspireGlobal customer lost a total of £6,000 in 48 hours but the firm only attempted to contact the user when the daily loss limit of £5,000 in 24 hours was reached.
Another customer was able to deposit and lose £7,000 in a period of around four hours in the early hours of the morning, managing to play through the backstop that AspireGlobal had in place at the time due to a system error.
AML failings at AspireGlobal found that its sites had delays with manual Enhanced Customer Due Diligence (ECDD) checks.
One customer at an AspireGlobal brand who reached the financial threshold did not have an ECDD review conducted until a week later.
Wholly Unacceptable
John Pierce, the director of enforcement at UKGC, described AspireGlobal’s second punishment for regulatory failings as “wholly unacceptable”.
He added: “Today’s outcome underscores the gravity of these breaches.”
“It is essential that operators not only implement and maintain robust anti-money laundering policies, procedures, and controls but also act swiftly and decisively in response to any indications of suspicious activity.”
“Effective social responsibility measures must be in place at all times to ensure that consumers identified as at risk receive timely and appropriate intervention.”
“This case stands as a clear warning to all operators that repeated regulatory failings will result in increasingly stringent enforcement action.”
The £1.4 million fine that AspireGlobal will pay will go to socially responsible causes as part of a settlement with the Gambling Commission.
