A penalty of approximately £1.34 million was levied against the online gambling operator White Hat Gaming Limited by the Gambling Commission in the United Kingdom. The company was found to have violated the Commissions regulations multiple times which included rules concerned with anti money laundering and social responsibility efforts.
The regulator’s detailed the results of an investigation utilizing an official press release which revealed the company headquartered in Malta had not met the licensing obligations of the U.K. Gambling Commission. The online betting firm declined to identify and manage customers who were possibly at risk of developing an addiction to gambling.
The extensive review which started in March of 2019 discovered that The White Hat online gambling operator was negligent by ‘inadequate anti-money laundering and safer gambling policies and processes’ regarding seven accounts utilized for its domains at DreamVegas.com, 21Casino.com, HelloCasino.com and GrandIvy.com. The regulator also said it was concerned that White Hat Gaming Limited failed to establish the source of funds for a player who lost around £70,000 in only three months as well as its ‘ineffective interaction’ with a second gambler who lost about £85,000 after just an hour at play.
Richard Watson the Executive Director for the Gambling Commission said that White Hat Gaming Limited had fully cooperated with his organization’s investigation and has furthermore pledged to ‘overhaul its approach to social responsibility and the prevention of money laundering’. The regulator pronounced that the Valletta-headquartered firm had also ‘accepted that its policies and procedures in respect of anti-money laundering and safer gambling were not adequate’ with its penalty encompassing about £9,816 to cover the costs of the British regulator’s review.
Watson stated, “Through our tough compliance and enforcement activity we will continue our work to raise standards in the industry and continue to hold failing operators to account.”
