The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) announced its decision to revoke the operating licence of the company that operates Park Lane Casino – Silverbond Enterprises Ltd.
As the major gambling regulatory body of the UK shared, the decision was made because the watchdog is not satisfied with a recent change in corporate control at the gambling company, as it was concerned about the suitability of the new controller. According to the Commission, the latter has had an unsatisfactory history in providing information that the watchdog had required as part of its enquiries.
At the time when it updated its regulatory decisions register, the UKGC further noted that the gambling company failed to provide thorough and proper explanations along with enough evidence on time. Apart from that, the gambling industry’s watchdog was not satisfied with Silverbond’s source of funds that was used to acquire and back the company at the time of the aforementioned corporate control change.
The decision for the licence revocation was made under section 102(4)(b) of the Gambling Act 2005 after a hearing was held before the regulatory panel. The gambling operating licence of Silverbond Enterprises Ltd is to be revoked as of November 18th, 2020, with the action subject to appeal.
UKGC Unhappy with Source of Funds Information Provided by the Gambling Company
The Executive Director of the UKGC, Helen Venn, explained that the regulatory body had revoked the operating license of Silverbond Enterprises Ltd because it was not satisfied as far as the source of funds used to “acquire and support” the licensee was concerned. This basically means that the Commission was unhappy with the one who would receive the future profits of the gambling operator.
As mentioned above, the UKGC was also concerned about the suitability of the newly-chosen controller because its history in providing the required information as part of the Commission’s enquiries was found unsatisfactory.
Ms Vann also reminded that the UK gambling regulatory body regulates the sector in the public interest and maintaining public confidence in the industry is one of its paramount priorities. This is exactly why the watchdog requires licensees to provide it with enough information about the ones who run or have a significant interest in gambling businesses.
Silverbond Enterprises Ltd is not the only company facing licence revocation as part of the regulatory decisions published by the UKGC so far in 2020. In March 2020, the regulator revoked the non-remote pool betting and ancillary pool betting licence held by Sportjumping Tote Limited after the company’s permit was reviewed under section 116 of the Gambling Act 2005. At the time, the UKGC found that the operating licence of the company was issued by the watchdog on August 28th, 2012 and the operator had failed to provide facilities for gambling in reliance on that licence.
In January 2020, the operator of Starbets Limited, William Grimes, also faced licence revocation in line with sections 117(1)(f), 119(1) and 120(1) of the Gambling Act 2005. The watchdog found that the licensee had not traded since 2007 and also did not provide enough evidence that the required facilities for gambling would be provided within a reasonable period.
- Author
Olivia Cole
