As the online gambling industry continues its expansion worldwide, it is incumbent on regulators throughout the world to put rules and regulations in place to protect citizen gamblers and the state. Furthermore, there has to be a mechanism in place that assures these rules and regulations are being honored. There’s simply no room for online gambling operations that don’t want to play by the rules.
All is good when gamblers are signing up, playing games of chance and taking advantage of promos like the Bitstarz bonus code. Unfortunately, protection has to be put in place with so much money at risk. The last thing anyone in the industry wants to see is rogue online gambling websites that are giving the entire industry a black eye.
To drive home the point the organization is serious about compliance, the UK Gambling Commission has announced the assessment of nearly 14 million in penalties against three online gaming operations. In all three cases, the penalties were assessed in response to these three gaming providers failing to put the proper safeguards in place to protect against money laundering issues and honoring their responsibility of keeping their consumers safe from ongoing problem gambling issues.
The penalties were assessed as follows: Casumo 5.85 million, Daub Alderney 7.1 million and Videoslots 1 million. It’s worth noting the penalties were assessed after a full investigation by the UK Gambling Commission’s compliance department. Each of these properties will be required to pay said fines within the prescribed time period or face suspension of licensing in the UK.
In a statement issued to the press, Neil McArthur, UK Gambling Commission CEO stated:
[quote_box author=”” profession=””]“I hope today’s announcement will make all online casino operators sit up and pay attention, as our investigations found that a large number of operators and their senior management were not meeting their obligations. It is not enough to have policies and procedures in place. Everyone in a gambling business must understand its policies and procedures and take responsibility for properly applying them. We expect operators to know their customers and to ask the right questions to make sure they meet their anti-money laundering and social responsibility obligations.”[/quote_box]
He later added, [quote_box author=”” profession=””]“Anyone in a position of authority needs to be aware that we will not only act against businesses when we take regulatory action – we will also hold individuals to account where they are responsible for an operator’s failings.”[/quote_box]
From a gambler’s perspective, this announcement should bring some level of comfort and stand as a reminder that they have a shared responsibility to make sure online gaming operators are compliant. There’s little doubt the UK gambling Commission stands as one of the most reliable online gambling regulators in the world.
The organization should stand as a model for any country that is looking to legalizing online gambling for its citizens. That would include the United States where as many as 50 states are working quickly to put regulations in place following the US Supreme Court’s decision to let states decide for themselves whether or not to legalize online gambling for its residents.