Kindred Group Fined £7.1m

Kindred Group Fined £7.1m. The United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) has imposed a £7.1 million fine on Kindred Group due to violations in social responsibility and anti-money laundering protocols. The operator’s 32Red and Unibet brands will pay £4.2 million and £2.9 million of the penalty, respectively, and have also received official warnings. Recently In Touch Games was also Fined £6.1 Million.

A UKGC investigation uncovered breaches at 32Red between June 2020 and March 2021, and at Unibet between July 2021 and October 2022. The regulator determined that 32Red’s controls were ineffective in identifying and protecting problem gamblers. Instances such as gambling session durations should have triggered earlier identification of at-risk customers.

In one case, social responsibility shortcomings allowed a customer to deposit £43,000 and lose £36,000 within a week. The UKGC noted that 32Red’s customer interactions were superficial and lacked depth, as they relied on customer assurances of affordability. Unibet, operating under Platinum Gaming, failed to enforce effective policies to identify separate accounts held by the same individual. Consequently, customers who had self-excluded from 32Red could create accounts with Unibet.

Regarding anti-money laundering, the UKGC found that 32Red did not implement measures outlined by the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds regulations. Customer account reviews revealed that financial triggers for AML reviews were set too high and did not effectively manage risk.

The UKGC also discovered that customers subject to Source of Funds (SOF) requests were not restricted from depositing and gambling during the two-week response period allowed by 32Red. Both 32Red and Unibet’s procedures and controls concerning AML were deemed inadequate, as they were not regularly reviewed and revised.