- ProgressPlay has been fined by the UK Playing Fee
- The UKGC says the B2B iGaming provider violated anti-money laundering rules
On Thursday, the UK Playing Fee assessed ProgressPlay a £1 million (US$1.35 million) effective for regulatory shortcomings.
The ProgressPlay conference sales space at ICE 2024 in London. ProgressPlay has been fined greater than $1 million by the UK Playing Fee for regulatory deficiencies. (Picture: Worldwide Casinos Exhibition 2024)
Headquartered in Limassol, Cyprus, ProgressPlay holds a license from the UK Playing Fee that permits the corporate to have interaction within the enterprise of on-line casinos, distant sports activities betting, and web bingo video games. ProgressPlay is primarily a business-to-business iGaming software program supplier, however the white label operator moreover operates its personal on-line gaming platforms.
The UKGC says a Playing Fee compliance evaluation turned up grave findings, together with anti-money laundering and social duty failings. It marks the second time that such a probe discovered ProgressPlay noncompliant.
This case marks the second time ProgressPlay Restricted has been topic to enforcement motion by the Playing Fee. Its failure to fulfill AML obligations, together with the gaps recognized in its social duty processes, are unacceptable,” stated John Pierce, the UKGC’s director of enforcement and intelligence.
ProgressPlay runs 18 on-line gaming domains and is a third-party operator for greater than 100 others that function inside the UK.
ProgressPlay’s on-line manufacturers embody Aced Wager, Push Wager, Wager Steve, Lotto Zone, and UK Slots. The corporate’s white label platforms embody Funky Jackpot, Fortunate Buck Bets, Scorching Wins, and LuckyCity.
AML Failures
The breadth of the UKGC’s report centered on ProgressPlay’s continued failure to deal with cash laundering. The probe concluded that the corporate didn’t conduct applicable Cash Laundering and Terrorist Financing (MLTF) threat assessments and didn’t implement safeguards to attenuate the danger of MLTF.
The UKGC stated the iGaming firm did not take a “sufficiently risk-based strategy” to anti-money laundering, and repeatedly didn’t confirm clients’ supply of funds, their enterprise actions, and their threat profile, all of that are required underneath the UK’s on-line playing legal guidelines.
As for social duty, the UKGC report stated ProgressPlay should make a lot progress to watch buyer exercise, particularly, the sooner identification of potential playing hurt. Investigators discovered ProgressPlay to have insufficient intervention protocols, and its customer support representatives weren’t correctly educated to work together and help with potential downside gamblers.
High-quality, Evaluation
The UK Playing Fee, along with the seven-digit effective, ordered an impartial third-party audit as soon as ProgressPlay implements modifications to deal with its regulatory shortcomings. ProgressPlay should pay for the audit, with the corporate being appointed by the UKGC.
Operators ought to be in little question: repeated regulatory breaches will end in more and more extreme enforcement motion. We urge all operators to look at the failings recognized on this case and take proactive steps to strengthen their very own techniques and controls,” Pierce added.
The £1 million effective in opposition to ProgressPlay follows a £175,718 settlement in opposition to the corporate in Might 2022 for related regulatory shortcomings.
The biggest effective ever handed down by the UKGC got here in 2023 when William Hill was hit with a £19.2 million penalty for AML and social duty failures. The UKGC stated clients had been, for years, allowed to make giant deposits and gamble extensively with none intervention from the web on line casino and sportsbook operator. A lot of the £19.2 million was directed in the direction of socially accountable gaming initiatives all through the UK.
