Rank Group subsidiary Daub Alderney hit with £5.85m UKGC fine
One customer was allowed to lose £43k over four months despite using four different payment cards in one day and reversing account withdrawals in excess of £133k
The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has slapped Rank Group subsidiary Daub Alderney with a £5.85m fine for social responsibility and AML failings relating to its online offering.
Daub Alderney, which powers digital brands including Aspers and Magical Vegas, has also received a formal warning for the breaches which occurred between January 2019 and March 2020.
One customer was allowed to lose £43,410 over four months despite displaying clear evidence of gambling harm by using four different payment cards in one day and reversing £133,873 in requested account withdrawals.
A second customer received just two safer gambling messages and a pop-up during a one-month relationship with the company while losing £40,500.
A third consumer lost £39,000 over three-and-a-half months but was only contacted with one safer gambling message and two pop-ups, neither of which were evaluated for effectiveness.
The UKGC also identified AML shortcomings at Daub Alderney, including having inappropriate policies, procedures and controls in place to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.
One example of this saw a customer deposit £50,000 before the operator sought source of funds evidence, while another was allowed to lose £53,000 over an eight-month period.
During this eight-month period, the only source of funds evidence sought by the operator was to confirm that the customer lived in a house with an estimated worth of £233,000.
UKGC executive director Helen Venn said: “This case was the result of 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.”
Daub Alderney was formerly a subsidiary of Stride Gaming. Rank Group took over responsibility of the business in October 2019 when it acquired Stride Gaming and its technology for £115m.
Commenting on the enforcement action, Rank Group said: “The UKGC has been clear that it is not penalising Rank or suggesting that Rank has been in any way at fault.
“Rather, the UKGC is merely concerned with the licensed entity, Daub, which it considers should pay a penalty for the identified regulatory breaches regardless of whether they pre-date Rank’s ownership of the business.”
Venn recognised that a good proportion of the failures occurred before Rank took control of the business and that there had indeed been improvements in these areas following the purchase.
She added: “The licensee’s culpability, and the requisite penalty reflecting that culpability, cannot be affected by the fact that its shares have now passed from one set of investors to another.
“The licensee does not escape or mitigate the consequences of its actions because its shares are sold.”
The fine was initially imposed on the business at a cost of £3m but this was increased to £5.9m when Rank appealed the size of the penalty to the UKGC’s regulatory panel.
The UKGC’s decision is still subject to appeal as Rank has pledged to escalate the matter to a First-tier Tribunal after it identified both “equity and public policy issues” with the case.
Daub Alderney was previously fined £7.1m by the UKGC in November 2018 after a technical failure in its automated system allowed self-excluded customers to open and access their casino accounts.