£1.6m fine handed to the Kindred Group by UK regulators

The UK Gambling commission, UKCG, have stated that the Kindred Group will have to pay £1.6 million for the use of gambling harm as well as anti-money laundering. The Kindred Group own Unibet, one of the most well-known betting companies in the UK.

The UKCG have claimed that a fraudster was able to bet around £629,000 to the operator without any concern being raised within the company’s systems. It is thought that the individual used various different betting sites, with the money of a £2 Million fraud deal.

The regulators state that every company given a license must ensure that they are able to prevent money laundering and help to reduce problem gambling behaviour. The rules say that licenses must put policies in place for interaction with customers when there are concerns about their behaviour.

The UK gambling commission believed that, because the losses of this fraudster were so high, the customer should have been prohibited from Unibet.

This is not the first time that there have been issues with Unibet. The gambling company came under fire by the regulators when a customer had opened their account and within two days they had been upgraded to the VIP level. THE UKGC saw this as a flaw that needed to be investigated.

Furthermore, the UK gambling commission not only felt that the company fell short of the regulations surrounding customer interactions, but they also felt that they breached the Anti-money laundering regulations.

In the UKGC’s report, they stated that the Kindred Group have been open and honest in the investigation and have ensured that there are measures in place so that this situation is unable to occur again.

The UK gambling commission and Unibet have also agreed a deal that means the £629,000 received from the gambling of the fraudster, will be used to compensate the victim of the fraud.