L & L Europe Limited reaches £900,000m settlement with UKGC

• L & L Europe Limited has settled with the Gambling Commission
• The regulator cited social responsibility, AML and CTF, as well as withdrawal failures
• The UKGC trusts that this case will serve as an example to help prevent similar breaches in future

L & L Europe Limited, a licensed gambling operator in the United Kingdom, has reached a £900,000m ($1.2m) settlement with the Gambling Commission (UKGC), the country’s gambling regulator.

UKGC settles irregularities with prominent licensee

The settlement was the result of what the UKGC alleged were regulatory failures, including unnecessarily delayed consumer withdrawals, as well as anti-money laundering shortcomings.

The regulator detailed the alleged breaches in an official statement shared on its website. Specifically, the operator was fined for not allowing consumers to request multiple withdrawals until the first one had been approved.

This, the UKGC argued, was unfair and went against the Consumer Rights Act 2015. The operator also imposed mandatory reviews for every fifth or tenth withdrawal and obligated consumers to provide additional information before the withdrawals could be processed.

"Commission requirements state that a request by a customer to withdraw funds from their account must not result in a requirement for additional information to be supplied as a condition of withdrawal if the licensee could have reasonably requested that information earlier," the regulator said in its summary of the product.

The company was also cited for failures to uphold anti-money laundering criteria and prerequisites, such as a lack of appropriate controls in place to identify risks associated with money laundering and terrorist financing. The existing methodology was simplified and relied on blanket thresholds rather than specific account review.

UKGC Executive Director of Operations Sue Young commented on the latest settlement: "As a regulator, we expect consumers to be treated fairly. A basic expectation is that when you have winnings you can withdraw those swiftly without hindrance from unfair terms and conditions or the operator failing to carry out checks at an earlier stage. That is essential to consumer trust."

Licensee fails to meet social responsibility standards in certain instances

The operator is also said to have failed in conducting due diligence procedures in certain instances, such as in the instance of newly opened bank accounts or money in bank accounts not being evidenced as coming from employment.

Another set of issues outlined by the UKGC involved social responsibility failings, including lack of safer gambling alerts that flagged potential gambling harm such as time spent gambling or failed deposits, which were activated at some of the licensee’s websites but not all.

The licensee also lacked a process in place to evaluate the effectiveness of its overall approach to customer interaction, all of which together resulted in the settlement.

"We hope this case sends a clear reminder to the industry that, although much of our enforcement action frequently relates to anti-money laundering and social responsibility failings, we will not hesitate to act when we see incidents of gambling not being fair and open," Young wrapped up, urging compliance and ensuring that the UKGC would intervene in cases where licensees have failed to act as per their obligations.

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