The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has imposed a fine of £375,000 on online gambling business, Football Pools Limited, after a Commission investigation revealed social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures. The breaches were occurred between September 2022 and August 2023.

John Pierce, Commission Director of Enforcement, said: “This case demonstrates that the Licensee’s approach to anti-money laundering risk profiling and monitoring was insufficient, allowing high-risk customers to continue gambling before completing necessary enhanced due diligence checks.

“In addition, the Licensee was over-reliant on financial alerts that whilst preventing significant losses meant it failed to engage in a timely manner with some customers who were potentially experiencing other markers of gambling-related harm such as time spent gambling and high velocity spend.

“While it is recognised that necessary improvements have been made by the Licensee following the completion of the compliance assessment, the Commission will take further action if these standards are not maintained.”

The Health and Social Care Select Committee will examine the current gambling landscape and the potential for harms caused by developments in gambling products in a one-off oral evidence session on Wednesday 2 April.

In 2023, approximately 25 million people in England gambled, and in the financial year to March 2024 the British gambling industry had a gross gambling yield (GGY) of £15.6 billion.

The Government has said it wants to facilitate a “cultural shift” in the understanding of gambling-related harms to reduce stigma associated with getting help. The session will see MPs probe what is needed to develop an effective public health response to gambling-related harms, and the Government’s role in leading and delivering this work.

As part of their questioning on the public health response to gambling-related harms, MPs will ask witnesses’ views on what role public health teams need to have within wider local authority services to reduce potential for gambling-related harms, and whether they think the current rules sufficiently safeguard children and vulnerable people from gambling-related harms.

In November 2024, the Government announced the introduction of a statutory levy on gambling operators, which will provide, for the first time, a dedicated statutory investment for prevention work. From April 2025, the Gambling Commission will be responsible for collecting and administering the new levy, under the strategic direction of the UK government.

In light of this, the session will see MPs pose questions to witnesses on the commissioning of effective treatment and prevention services in the context of the statutory levy on gambling operators and the role of the Gambling Commission in regulating the industry.

Businesses and individuals bound by the tipping off offence must now consider whether a disclosure could be expected to prejudice an investigation, under changes to the AML/CTF laws that came into force on March 31.

The changes to the offence, which carries a maximum penalty of around $39,000 or up to 2 years in prison, are now focussed on the harms that could flow from a disclosure.

AUSTRAC CEO, Mr Brendan Thomas, said the change is part of AML/CTF reforms passed late last year to expand and simplify the legislation.

“The previous legislation was almost 20 years old and a lot has changed in that time,” Mr Thomas said.

“AUSTRAC is about to usher in 100,000 new businesses to the regime next year and they too will be subject to the tipping off offence.

“The change to the offence is about balancing intelligence gathering with practicality to ensure we can all get the best outcome – identifying criminal activity and driving money laundering out of legitimate businesses.

“We need businesses to work with us to detect illicit transactions – tipping off risks criminals getting a heads up. Criminals can then take action to hide or disguise their illegal activities. However, we know that effective information sharing within and between businesses helps stop money laundering.”

Businesses and individuals covered by the AML/CTF legislation, including banks, casinos, remitters and money lenders, are now prohibited from disclosing certain information to another person (other than AUSTRAC), only where it would or could reasonably be expected to prejudice an investigation.

“The move to a focus on harms strikes a better balance between protecting law enforcement investigations and allowing industry to collaborate in fighting money laundering, terrorism financing and other serious crimes.”

While the tipping off offence changes from March 31, most of the obligations under the amended AML/CTF Act will not come into effect until 2026, when entities in real estate, accounting, precious stones and metals and digital assets come under AUSTRAC’s remit.