Court rejects Daub Alderney's appeal against $7.2M UK Gambling Commission fine

A court has rejected Daub Alderney’s appeal against a UK Gambling Commission penalty, the regulator announced Tuesday. The UKGC fined the operator £5.85 million ($7.25 million) for social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures in September 2021.

Daub Alderney appealed to the First-Tier Tribunal on the grounds that the financial penalty was excessive, unfair and disproportionate. But following a hearing, Judge Findlay dismissed the appeal and stated the financial penalty was a “fair and reasonable regulatory response.”

The judge said: “I find that there were serious breaches which were similar to the breaches for which a substantial financial penalty was imposed in 2018 and there are no new facts which persuade me that the decision was wrong. I find that the (Commission Regulatory) Panel did not err in law and complied with its statutory obligations.”

Sarah Gardner, Commission Deputy CEO, stated: “We welcome the First-Tier Tribunal’s decision to dismiss this appeal. We do not take the decision to fine gambling companies lightly but we will always take firm, decisive action against operators who fail to follow rules aimed at making gambling safe and free from crime.”

The company was found in 2021 as having breached conditions of its license relating to anti-money laundering measures and failing to comply with social responsibility codes of practice. The company, part of the Stride Gaming Group, operates a number of platforms, including aspers.com, kittybingo.com, luckypantsbingo.com, luckyvip.com, magicalvegas.com, regalwins.com and spinandwin.com.

Daub Alderney was acquired by Rank Group in October 2019, and further findings by the UKGC point out that it did not have appropriate measures to detect or prevent problem gambling from January 2019 to March 2020, the time period in which a series of incidents took place.

These episodes include an instance in which Daub Alderney sent just two safer gambling reminders and one pop-up to a customer who had spent £40,500; and an incident in which a customer lost £45,410 in a four-month period, having used four separate payment cards in one day.

Moreover, policies for anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing were found to be ineffective: for instance, Daub Alderney failed to ask for source of funds evidence to a customer that had deposited £41,500. In another case, the company only asked for said evidence from a customer after they had deposited £50,000.

In regards to failures occurring before a business acquisition, Helen Venn, then-executive director of the UKGC, said at the time that “the licensee does not escape or mitigate the consequences of its actions because its shares are sold.”

“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,” Venn added last year. “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.”