WHG (International) Limited, which runs williamhill.com, will pay £12.5 million, Mr Green Limited,
which runs mrgreen.com, will pay £3.7 million and William Hill Organization Limited, which operates 1,344 gambling premises across Britain, will pay
£3 million.
Andrew Rhodes, Gambling Commission chief executive, said: “When we launched this investigation the failings we uncovered were so
widespread and alarming serious consideration was given to licence suspension. “However, because the operator immediately recognised their failings and
worked with us to swiftly implement improvements, we instead opted for the largest enforcement payment in our history.”
Today’s action comes
just a week after the Commission fined two operators owned by Kindred Group plc a combined £7.2 million and is the largest enforcement case taken on by
the regulator. The previous largest was £17 million action taken against Entain in August last year.
Since the start of 2022 the Commission has
concluded 26 enforcement cases with operators paying over £76 million because of regulatory failures.
Mr Rhodes said: “In the last 15
months we have taken unprecedented action against gambling operators, but we are now starting to see signs of improvement. There are indications that the
industry is doing more to make gambling safer and reducing the possibility of criminal funds entering their businesses.
The 88-year-old bookmaking
brand, owned by 888 Group, admitted a string of transgressions, including allowing customers to lose tens of thousands of pounds within minutes of opening an
account.
Some of the most extreme examples took place during Covid-19 lockdowns, when the Gambling Commission, which regulates the industry, had warned
bookmakers and casinos against exploiting vulnerable people shut indoors for long periods.
The failures also continued after the government launched a
landmark review of gambling laws that has led the industry to promise to improve safety standards.
The Guardian understands that the “write
round” process, where government departments approve the reforms, will begin this week, with a white paper due to be published in April.
William
Hill and its sister brand Mr Green will pay a total of £19.2m, which is the largest penalty in the commission’s history but equates to less than
four days of revenue for their parent company, 888, which won £1.8bn from punters last year.
The regulator said it had considered suspending
William Hill’s licence but this was avoided after the company worked rapidly to make changes. The commission has never suspended the licence of a big
operator, although it has the power to do so in response to repeated transgressions.
Mr Green, William Hill and 888 have incurred significant fines from
the Gambling Commission in recent years, including a £3m fine for Mr Green handed down in February 2020. The failures at William Hill’s brand that
have led to the new record penalty continued for at least a year after that.
They included allowing one customer to open a new account and spend
£23,000 in 20 minutes; allowing another to open an account and spend £18,000 in 24 hours; and allowing a third customer to spend £32,500 over
two days – all without any checks. The commission said the company failed to carry out checks at an early stage in the customer’s journey, which
meant one user lost £14,902 in 70 minutes.
Ineffective controls allowed 331 customers to gamble with WHG (International) Ltd despite having
self-excluded from Mr Green.
Anti-money-laundering failures included allowing customers to deposit large amounts without conducting appropriate checks.
One customer was able to spend and lose £70,134 in a month, while another lost £38,000 in five weeks and a third lost £36,000 in four
days.
William Hill was bought by the online casino company 888 Holdings from the Las Vegas company Caesars in a £2.2bn deal in 2021.
An 888
spokesperson said: “The settlement relates to the period when William Hill was under the previous ownership and management. After William Hill was
acquired, the company quickly addressed the identified issues with the implementation of a rigorous action plan.
The 888 chief executive, Itai Pazner,
was removed earlier this year, amid an internal investigation into separate failures to follow anti-money-laundering processes.
Gambling Commission
chief executive, Andrew Rhodes, said: “Operators are using algorithms to spot gambling harms or criminal risk more quickly, interacting with consumers
sooner, and generally having more effective policies and procedures in place.” |
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