A court has rejected Daub Alderney’s appeal against a penalty imposed by the UK gambling regulatory body.
Back in September 2021, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) imposed a monetary penalty worth £5.85 million for anti-money laundering (AML) and social responsibility failures. As a result, Daub Alderney filed an appeal to the First-Tier Tribunal because the fine imposed by the gambling watchdog was unfair, excessive and disproportionate.
After holding a hearing on the issue, Judge Findlay dismissed the gambling operator’s appeal and confirmed the Gambling Commission’s decision, saying that the country’s regulator imposed the monetary penalty as a fair and reasonable response to the found social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures.
Judge Findlay said she found that the company had seriously violated the aforementioned legislative rules and requirements, with the wrongdoings being similar to the breaches for which the company faced a massive financial penalty back in 2018. Furthermore, the First-Tier Court’s judge found no new facts or evidence to persuade her that the regulatory decision was wrong. This was exactly why she found that the Regulatory Panel of the UKGC had not made a mistake in its decision and complied with its statutory obligations as an industry watchdog.
The UKGC welcomed the court’s decision to side with the regulator and dismiss the appeal of Daub Alderney. The Deputy CEO of the Commission, Sarah Gardner, noted that the watchdog does not take the decision-making process lightly, especially when it comes to imposing financial penalties on gambling operators. Ms Gardner also explained that the UKGC has no intention of stopping to take firm and decisive action against gambling operators that fail to comply with the country’s legislation.
UKGC Fined Daub Alderney for AML and Social Responsibility Failures in 2018 and 2021
As Casino Guardian reported at the time, at the beginning of September 2021, the UK Gambling Commission issued a £5.85-million fine on Daub Alderney after a regulatory probe unveiled some social shortcomings and failures in the company’s responsibility and anti-money laundering policies.
Apart from the monetary penalty, the company, which currently runs a number of gambling platforms, including aspers.com, luckyvip.com, luckypantsbingo.com, regalwins.com, kittybingo.com, magicalvegas.com, and spinandwin.com, received a formal warning from the UKGC due to its failures occurring in the period from January 2019 and March 2020.
The aforementioned shortcomings in the field of social responsibility included some negligence to the company’s customers in terms of policies and procedures for interacting with players whenever there was a cause for concern with a customer’s actions in case they might indicate gambling addiction or increased risk of gambling-related harm.
As mentioned above, in November 2018, Daub Alderney faced another substantial fine worth £7.1 million after the UK Gambling Commission found it had failed to prevent money laundering activities and had not protected vulnerable players from experiencing increased risks and gambling-related harm.
- Author
Daniel Williams
