Gambling giant 888 swallows £9.4m money laundering fine from industry watchdog
Gambling giant 888 has accepted a £9.4m fine from the industry watchdog, following social responsibility and money laundering failings.
888 UK, which operates 78 websites including 888.com, has also received an official warning from the Gambling Commission and will undergo extensive independent auditing.
This is the second time 888 has faced enforcement action – in 2017 they paid a £7.8m penalty package for failing vulnerable customers.
Its social responsibility failures include not effectively identifying players at risk of harm, as well as more specific examples, such as not carrying out a customer interaction with a customer who lost £37,000 in a six week period during the pandemic.
Andrew Rhodes, Gambling Commission Chief Executive, said: “The circumstances of the last enforcement action may be different but both cases involve failing consumers – and this is something that is not acceptable.
“Today’s fine is one of our largest to date, and all should be clear that if there is a repeat of the failures at 888 then we have to seriously consider the suitability of the operator to uphold the licensing objectives and keep gambling safe and crime-free.
“Consumers in Britain deserve to know that when they gamble, they are participating in a leisure activity where operators play their part in keeping them safe and are carrying out checks to ensure money is crime-free.”