The UK gambling watchdog has revealed that another online gambling company has seen its operating licence suspended as part of regulatory action. This is the fourth regulatory action of this kind over the last five weeks.
On March 17th, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) revealed that it has undertaken a licence review into International Multi-Media Entertainment Limited, which holds an operating licence No. 003-039526-R-319314 trades as Lotteries.com and also known as “The Lottery Centre”. The regulatory probe has been initiated under the provisions of s116 of the Gambling Act 2005.
In correspondence to section 118(2) of the Gambling Act 2005, the UK gambling regulator has made a decision to suspend the aforementioned operating licence of the gambling business to the extent that it is applicable to the ability of the gambling company to offer remote facilities for remote general betting standard and remote casino.
The watchdog’s action is taking place because the investigation raised the UKGC’s concerns over some alleged anti-money laundering and social responsibility practices used by the operator. As revealed by the Gambling Commission, the operating licence of Multi Media Entertainments Limited takes immediate effect.
The UK gambling watchdog also shared that the gambling company had been instructed to make sure that customers are able to access their accounts to withdraw their funds. The operator also needs to remain in contact with its customers should they need any help throughout the process.
Lotteries.com Operator Previously Announced Plans to Launch a New Platform
The domain operated by the company, Lotteries.com, offers betting on lottery draws available across the world, including the Euro Millions, the Powerball and Mega Millions offered in the US, as well as a variety of lottery draws in the domestic gambling markets of Ireland, Spain, Germany, France, Canada and Australia. Apart from that, the Lotteries.com website offers some so-called “instant win games” that are also known as RNG based products.
For the time being, the gambling operator has not publicly commented on the suspension of its licence. In February, Lotteries.com published a notice on its website informing its customers that “a number of exciting developments” have started as part of the company’s plans to launch a new platform. The same notice informed the customers that the website had decided to remove the option to make deposits and to place scheduled or new bets, with the measure taking effect from February 15th, 2020. As stated in the notice, the transition in the lotteires.com website was planned to take place over the upcoming 4 weeks.
As mentioned above, this has been the fourth gambling operating licence suspension carried out by the UKGC in five weeks. Earlier this month, the watchdog suspended the licences held by Stakers Ltd, pointing out several compliance issues as a reason for the measure. In February, Addison Global Ltd and its MoPlay brand also faced an operating licence suspension for violations of required financial resources checks. Last month also saw the UKGC temporarily suspend Triple Ltd‘s licence, with the reasons for the decision remaining unclear for the time being.
- Author
Olivia Cole
