Football Pools Pays $485,000 Charge for AML Failures

Football Pools Limited was charged £375,000 ($485,000) by the UK Gambling Commission for failing to meet anti-money laundering and social responsibility standards between September 2022 and August 2023.

The Company Agreed to Pay $485,000 for Its Shortcomings

Football Pools Limited, one of the oldest legacy betting companies in the UK, has been charged £375,000 (around $485,600) by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC). The penalty is due to shortcomings in the company’s social responsibility and anti-money laundering policies and procedures from September 2022 to August 2023.

The payment is part of a settlement the company agreed on with the regulator. Football Pools Limited will essentially pay the regulator a fee to avoid additional regulatory enforcement measures. The Commission says the money will be spent on various social responsibility causes.

Why Did the Commission Come to This Decision?

Football Pools Limited was found to have failed to comply with licensing requirements to prevent money laundering between September 2022 and August 2023. According to the Gambling Commission, this is due to the company relying too much on financial triggers to identify high-risk customers.

In addition to this, Football Pools Limited was found to have permitted high-risk players to continue gambling after triggers were activated, only halting the activity when manual reviews were conducted. The regulator noted that these manual reviews were not always carried out promptly.

Furthermore, the Commission also identified instances of delays in creating customer risk profiles. These were cases where risk profiles were not created at all. There were also situations where risk profiles were not completed for extended periods—on average, 25 days after the financial trigger was activated.

The operator’s social responsibility shortcomings included inadequate internal systems for identifying at-risk gamblers and insufficient assessment of individual customer interactions. Additionally, the company’s safer gambling messaging was found to be insufficient for customers who had opted out of receiving marketing communications.

John Pierce, Commission Director of Enforcement, explained that the case shows that the company’s approach to anti-money laundering risk profiling and monitoring was insufficient. This has allowed high-risk customers to continue gambling before conducting the required enhanced due diligence checks.

Additionally, Football Pools relied too heavily on financial alerts, which, although preventing significant losses, led to delays in engaging with some customers who may have been showing other signs of gambling-related harm, such as excessive time spent gambling and high rates of spending. Pierce further explained that although the company has made necessary improvements following the completion of the compliance assessment, the Commission will take further action if these standards are not upheld.