UK Gambling Commission Fines Greentube £1 Million for Compliance Failures

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has imposed a £1 million (€1,193,188 / $1,229,141) fine on online gambling operator Greentube, which operates admiralcasino.co.uk, for significant social responsibility and anti-money laundering (AML) failings. The Commission announced that the penalty will be directed toward socially responsible causes as part of the settlement.

The investigation revealed that Greentube breached its licensing conditions in several ways, including basing customer limits on irregular or one-off income rather than regular, sustainable sources of income. The operator also failed to ensure the authenticity of documents supplied by customers, identify indicators of vulnerability, and promptly address potential risks related to money laundering or terrorist financing. Furthermore, it neglected to flag “risky occupations” during AML checks.

Specific examples of these breaches were cited in the investigation. In one case, a customer provided a bank statement with both a negative opening and closing balance, showing transactions with other gambling operators. Despite this, the customer was only contacted after depositing £4,000 over four months. Another customer submitted a bank statement with unusual transactions, including over £100,000 transferred in and out of the account alongside a negative closing balance, but this issue only came to light four months later.

In a separate instance, Greentube failed to address the increased risk associated with a “finance manager” customer who had access to funds that could potentially be misappropriated and laundered. Additionally, the operator did not investigate an account linked to a previously blocked customer with the same surname and address. This blocked customer was known to have prior convictions for the supply of class A drugs.

John Pierce, the UKGC’s Director of Enforcement, addressed the regulatory breaches, stating that “This case arose from a follow-up compliance assessment designed to ensure the operator had continued to apply lessons learned from previous regulatory action. While we noted that the business had made significant general improvements, further regulatory breaches were still identified. The operator was subsequently required to swiftly put in place an effective action plan designed to remedy all of the identified failings. We want to remind all operators that any business found to breach rules designed to keep gambling safe and free from crime for a second time should expect increasingly stringent enforcement action. Any failure to uphold anti-money laundering standards is unacceptable, and today’s action reflects the gravity of the breaches identified. We will continue to monitor this operator to ensure they consistently meet the required regulatory standards.”

This is not the first time Greentube has faced regulatory action. In 2021, the company was fined £685,000 after a separate UKGC investigation uncovered similar shortcomings in its social responsibility and anti-money laundering protocols. The latest fine underscores the Commission’s commitment to holding operators accountable for failures in maintaining regulatory standards.

By fLEXI tEAM