source: pixabay.comCasumo, the online casino and sportsbook operator has been handed a massive £6 million fine by the United Kingdom Gambling Commission.
The fine, that has been accepted by the Malta-based gambling operator, is for historical failings that were identified from an audit conducted by the UK’s gambling regulator between October 2019 and January 2020.
Casumo, which was founded in 2012, said the failings were partly due to the gambling operator took place in the context of the hyper-growth Casumo experienced in its start-up phase. (even though the casino was founded a full seven years earlier).
Some of the failings by Casumo meant that one Casumo player lost £1.1 million over a three-year period ‘without being subject to responsible gambling interactions’. Other Casumo failings saw one customer losing £89,000 in a five-hour period and another customer losing £59,000 in just a 90-minute session.
Casumo was charged with numerous failures on its customer AML duties including referencing appropriate Source of Funds (SOF) checks.
The gambling operator appointed Shelly Suter-Hadad as its CEO in January 2020. Suter-Hadad was brought in because of her wealth of experience in building compliance-led gaming groups. Suter-Hadad 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.”
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.”
