• UKGC fines Casumo £6 million
• Review shows one customer lost £1.1 million in three years
• Many high-loss accounts were not subject to responsible gambling interaction
• Casumo claims historic errors now a thing of the past

Casumo, the Malta-based casino and sportsbook, has been fined £6 million by the UK Gambling Commission over a catalogue of failings around social responsibility and anti-money laundering checks.

A review of Casumo’s operations between October 2019 and January 2020, which came after the platform showed fast growth in its start-up phase, uncovered serious breaches of good practice, including:

• A player who lost £1.1 million in three years, another lost £65,000 in one month and another £76,000 in seven months – all without any responsible gambling interaction with Casumo
• One player lost £89,000 in five hours, another £59,000 in just 90 minutes

Those failings fell short of the UKGC Social Responsibility Code provision 3.4.1, which states: “Licensees must interact with customers in a way which minimises the risk of customers experiencing harms associated with gambling.”

Anti-money laundering (AML) shortcomings were also identified by the UKGC, including customers depositing large sums of money without correct AML checks. There was also insufficient checks over the source of the funds, while submitted bank statements were not investigated properly.

Funding sources unchecked

And there was even more. The commission found there were not enough checks on the authenticity of submitted documentation, no assessment of how much a player should be allowed to spend based on his or her known income, wealth or any other risk factor, and winnings from other gambling operators were accepted as a source of funds without further checks.

Richard Watson, UKGC executive director, stated: “This case was brought about through planned compliance activity and every operator out there should be aware that we will continue to take firm action against those who fail to raise standards.”

Casumo insists it has worked hard to address the concerns raised in the initial review, with a series of new measures introduced by the new CEO Shelly Suter-Hadad.

She was hired for her experience in building compliance-led gaming operations and has been in her post since January 2020.

She said: “Since joining Casumo last year, my focus has been on putting in place a new senior leadership team and Personal Management License holders with extremely strong industry experience and the knowledge and expertise to ensure we are a compliance-led business.

“In addition, recognising that key processes fell short in the past, I took immediate action to implement fundamental operational changes so that Casumo is now a gaming group with compliance and responsible gambling at the heart of its business and culture. These efforts, together with our full collaboration, have been formally recognised multiple times by the Commission.”

In Touch Games fined

Last week, the UKGC fined casino operator In Touch Games £3.4m after ruling it failed to carry out interaction policies and procedures for seven customers, even though there were concerns that they could be problem gamblers.

This is the second time Casumo has been fined, however. Back in 2018, it was one of three companies that were found not to have taken effective measures to prevent anti-money laundering and was hit for £5.85 million.

But it has not been a total wipeout of a week for Casumo. Earlier this week, it was given the go-ahead to launch in Spain by the DGOJ.