In the United Kingdom and online casino games developer and operator, Gamesys Limited, has been ordered to pay a fine of just over £1.15 million ($1.45 million) after being found to have breached the Gambling Commission’s rules on money laundering and social responsibility.

JackpotJoy.com infractions:

The regulator used an official Wednesday press release to detail that it had conducted an investigation into the London-headquartered operator after an associated police inquiry had discovered a trio of instances where individuals had gambled stolen money on the firm’s JackpotJoy.com domain between 2014 and 2016 totaling £460,472 ($583,749).

Player protection:

The Commission explained that this had represented a breach of its anti-money laundering regulations because the operator had failed to adequately establish the source of these funds. The regulator also stated that the subsequent failure of Gamesys to intervene after these three online casino players had exhibited ‘behavior that could indicate problem gambling’ had broken its rules on the prevention of gambling harm.

Punishment particulars:

As part of a settlement, the United Kingdom regulator declared that Gamesys has been ordered to return the stolen cash to its rightful owners and voluntarily hand over some £690,000 ($874,783) in lieu a being hit with an even steeper financial penalty. Richard Watson, Executive Director for the Gambling Commission, used the press release to proclaim that his group subsequently intends to use this latter amount to accelerate the delivery of its National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms, which is a three-year coordinated endeavor that has been designed to diminish industry-wide gambling harms.

Watson’s statement read…

“It is vital that operators understand their customers; track their online gambling and step in quickly when they suspect someone is suffering from gambling harm. These key steps and processes ensure they meet both their anti-money laundering and social responsibility obligations for all customers. Gamesys Limited’s approach resulted in a variety of failings and saw stolen money flowing through the business with customers being put at risk of gambling-related harm.”