Vivaro to pay UKGC a $413K regulatory settlement over a series of AML, safe gambling failings

The UK Gambling Commission announced that Vivaro Limited, trading as vbet, will pay a GBP 337,631 ($413,974) regulatory settlement following a series of compliance failings. An investigation found failures in the company's processes aimed at preventing money laundering and ensuring safer gambling. The money will go to socially responsible causes. 

The regulator found that, between October 2020 and June 2021, Vivaro failed to comply with certain License Conditions and Codes of Practice, did not implement proper Anti-Money Laundering policies, procedures and controls; and showed deficiencies in its responsible gambling policies and practices. 

In line with the UKGC’s statement of principles for licensing and regulation, Vivaro will make payments in lieu of a penalty package of GBP 337,631. Of that sum, GBP 302,500 will go to National Responsible Gambling Strategy projects to pay for research and treatment as determined appropriate to address the risk of harmful gambling. A payment of GBP 15,606 will also cover the regulator’s investigation. 

Failures included instances where customers were able to deposit "significant" sums of money before ‘know your customer’ (KYC) checks were carried out; and an inability to provide sufficient guidance within its policies or procedures as to how staff should verify Source Of Funds (SOF) and what supporting documents should be requested.

Vivaro Limited will pay £337,631 following procedural failings to prevent money laundering and safer gambling.

All of the settlement will go to socially responsible causes.

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— Gambling Commission (@GamRegGB) January 17, 2023

AML trigger levels were also considered "too high," based on the average level of customer spend, and were therefore not appropriate to effectively manage associated ML risk, says the UKGC. Customers reviewed during the compliance assessment were subject to AML checks which were ineffective in establishing the SOF being used for gambling, bank statements were not scrutinized to identify other income and reliance was placed on winnings from other operators.

As for safe gambling failures, Vivaro was found to have "insufficient control in place" to protect new customers, and to effectively consider high-velocity spend and duration of play until the customer reached a ‘higher tier’ AML Trigger. In one example a customer was allowed to deposit and lose £4000 within a 4-day period.

The company did not have sufficient resourcing of its KYC agents to manage requirements in respect of identifying customers at risk and undertake customer interactions, adds the regulator. "Commission Officials consider that the licensee would have been able to act more promptly and tailor interactions more appropriately (such as telephone calls) if there were sufficient staff resources," it said.

In determining the appropriate outcome, the Commission said in its assessment that Vivaro had been "open, transparent and cooperative" throughout the investigation and had taken proactive and timely action to address all the issues. Moreover, the Commission also confirmed that they found no evidence of criminal spend during the compliance assessment.