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| William Hill fined £6.2m for failing to protect customers and prevent money laundering | William Hill fined £6.2m for failing to protect customers and prevent money laundering |
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| William Hill has been fined at least £6.2m for failing to protect consumers and prevent money laundering, the Gambling Commission has said. | William Hill has been fined at least £6.2m for failing to protect consumers and prevent money laundering, the Gambling Commission has said. |
| The commission on Tuesday said that its investigation had revealed that between November 2014 and August 2016 the bookmaker had breached anti-money laundering and social responsibility regulations. | The commission on Tuesday said that its investigation had revealed that between November 2014 and August 2016 the bookmaker had breached anti-money laundering and social responsibility regulations. |
| “Senior management failed to mitigate risks and have sufficient numbers of staff to ensure their anti-money laundering and social responsibility processes were effective,” the commission said. | |
| It added that this had resulted in ten customers being allowed to deposit large sums of money linked to criminal offences which resulted in gains for William Hill of around £1.2m. | |
| The bookmaker at the time “did not adequately seek information about the source of their funds or establish whether they were problem gamblers”. | |
| The commission said that William Hill will now pay more than £5m for breaching those regulations and will also be fined for the £1.2m the company earned from those transactions with those ten customers. | |
| Where victims of the ten customers are identified, they will be reimbursed. | |
| If any more incidents of such failures relating to this case emerge, William Hill will be forced to pay up any additional money made from these transactions too. | |
| In response, William Hill said that it would appoint external auditors to review the effectiveness and implementation of its anti-money laundering and social responsibility policies and procedures. It said that it would feedback on that process with the wider industry. | |
| “We will use the full range of our enforcement powers to make gambling fairer and safer,” Neil McArthur, executive director of the commission said. | |
| “This was a systemic failing at William Hill which went on for nearly two years and today’s penalty package – which could exceed £6.2m - reflects the seriousness of the breaches,” he added. | |
| “Gambling businesses have a responsibility to ensure that they keep crime out of gambling and tackle problem gambling - and as part of that they must be constantly curious about where the money they are taking is coming from,” he said. | |
| Philip Bowcock, chief executive of William Hill said that his company had fully co-operated with the commission throughout the investigation. | |
| “We are fully committed to operating a sustainable business that properly identifies risk and better protects customers,” he said. | |
| “We will continue to assist the commission and work with other operators to improve practices in the areas identified.” | |