If The Boot Fits: UKGC Fines TGP Europe £300,000+ For AML Breaches

Following its mega fine of William Hill and significant sanction of the Kindred Group, the UK’s regulatory Gambling Commission (UKGC) has today imposed a penalty of £316,250 against TGP Europe Ltd. for similar anti-money laundering and social responsibility breaches (US$394,580/€360,293).

Isle of Man-based TGP, which operates 19 websites, among them BK8, 12Bet, Fun88 and Kaiyun, has also received a stark Official Warning and will additionally be subject to ramped-up scrutiny.

The UKGC move comes amid heightened anticipation of betting reform with publication of the government’s long-delayed gambling White Paper now imminent.

Last week William Hill, arguably the most famous name in British betting, was hit with a massive £19.2 million fine (US$23.95m/€21.87m)–the largest in history–by the commission for serious anti-money laundering failures.

And only days before Swedish-origin Kindred Group’s 32Red and Unibet iGaming verticals were fined a total of £7.2 million (US$8.98m/€8.2m), also for anti-money laundering and social responsibility failures.

TGP Europe relied on “automated interactions”–rather than customer care interventions–when alerts were triggered, and failed to assess the “effectiveness of their interactions” or consider further steps, such as telephone calls, the UKGC said in its ruling.

AML failures covered several areas, the commission reported.

There were “inadequate risk assessments for money laundering and terrorist financing”.

TGP Europe did not address risks, including false or stolen identification documentation, or carry out appropriate due diligence on “unusually large transactions”.

Warned the UKGC: “This case serves as a reminder to gambling operators of the importance of maintaining robust AML and social responsibility protocols to prevent potential breaches and protect their customers.”

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