UK Gambling Commission Fines Spreadex for Repeated Social Responsibility and AML Failings

UK Gambling Commission Fines Spreadex for Repeated Social Responsibility and AML Failings

Customer deposited £1.7 million and lost £500k in a month with no restrictions placed on account

by - Thursday, August 25th, 2022 8:57

UK Gambling Commission Fines

The UK Gambling Commission has fined online gambling company Spreadex Limited £1.36 million (€1.6 million) for anti-money laundering (AML) and social responsibility failings.

According to the Commission’s statement, Spreadex was fined following a recent investigation which uncovered the breaches of its licensing conditions.

The investigation revealed social responsibility failures including:

  • Using ineffective financial alerts allowing customers to gamble large amounts in short period of time
  • UK Gambling Commission Fines Spreadex for Repeated Social Responsibility and AML Failings
  • Not recording customer evaluations
  • Ineffective customer interactions

According to the report one Spreadex customer deposited £1.7 million (€2.01 million) and lost £500,000 (€591,854) in the space of a single month. The company had reached out to the customer but had decided against limiting the account despite this being the advised procedure according to UKGC guidelines.

UK Gambling Commission Fines Spreadex for Repeated Social Responsibility and AML Failings
  • Allowing a customer with a £25,000 (€29,591) financial deposit alert to increase this to £100,000 (€118,366) based on a self-declaration of income and an open-source check
  • UK Gambling Commission Fines Spreadex for Repeated Social Responsibility and AML Failings
  • Allowing a customer to continue depositing after providing redacted bank statements in response to a request for evidence of Source of Funds

Speaking of the fine, Leanne Oxley, Gambling Commission Director of Enforcement and Intelligence, said:

“Whilst it is disappointing to see anti-money laundering and social responsibility breaches occur despite our extensive published cases highlighting similar failures, we note the swift and robust action the Licensee took to bring itself back to compliance. We expect similar commitment and engagement across the gambling sector.”

View Historical Gambling Industry fines.

Natasha Lyndon

Based in London, Natasha is a former sports journalist with experience working for some of the biggest athletes & brands in the world of sports and iGaming.