Summary:
- Lindar Media committed multiple breaches of AML laws
- The UKGC also found failings in the operator’s social responsibility duties
- Lindar Media to pay over £690K in regulatory settlement arising from the violations
UK online gaming operator Lindar Media Limited has agreed to pay £690,947 in regulatory settlement after the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) found that the company had committed multiple breaches of its Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP).
In particular, Lindar Media failed to comply with anti-money laundering (AML) rules and social responsibility standards, resulting in the financial penalty.
List of Violations
The UKGC investigation uncovered failings on the part of Lindar Media regarding the implementation of policies, procedures, and controls aimed at preventing money laundering and terrorist financing. The Commission also found deficiencies in the operator’s responsible gambling policies and practices as well as weaknesses in its reporting arrangements on key events.
Lindar Media also failed to fulfill its social responsibility duties when advertising its products and did not make an annual financial contribution to an organization whose work centers around gambling harm research, prevention, and treatment.
Additionally, Lindar Media failed to obtain approval from the UKGC when it assigned other management posts to the individual taking charge of the company’s gambling regulatory compliance.
A subsequent regulatory review conducted by the UKGC found Lindar Media to be in breach of multiple LCCP provisions, including failure to implement appropriate money laundering and terrorist financing risk assessment concerning customers, means of payment, additional inherent risks, and emerging risks operator control.
Detailing Lindar Media’s violations, the UKGC stated that the operator did not specifically address certain key risk factors set out under the country’s AML laws, such as customers associated with higher-risk countries, disproportionate spend, and customers’ business relationships that are conducted in unusual circumstances.
Some of the operator’s AML procedures and practices were inappropriate, such as automatically assigning a risk rating of low to all customers upon registration. Moreover, Lindar Media implemented financial thresholds that enabled customers to deposit and lose £10,000 in a short period of time. Such a measure was not sufficiently risk-based, according to the UKGC.
Lindar Media allowed its Head of Regulatory Compliance to hold several other management posts without the UKGC’s express approval, and the company also committed failings in its customer interaction processes aimed at minimizing the risk of gambling-related harm.
Lindar Media to Pay £690,947 in Regulatory Settlement
The regulatory settlement arising from Lindar Media’s violations includes a financial penalty of £690,947 which will go towards socially responsible causes.
The UKGC stated that it took into account several aggravating and mitigating factors when deciding an appropriate resolution to its investigation.
