Great Britain’s Gambling Commission has issued a £1 million ($1.4 million) fine to white-label operator ProgressPlay after a compliance assessment revealed a series of anti-money laundering (AML) and social responsibility failings.
Headquartered in Cyprus, ProgressPlay owns 134 gambling websites including Acedbet.com, Casinomite.com and Playmagical.com. It holds a licence in Great Britain, as well as in Ireland and Malta.
Detailing the case, the commission said ProgressPlay had breached several licence conditions. It had also failed to comply with certain social responsibility code and ordinary code provisions. Breaches took place between August 2021 and August 2024.
As such, it was ordered to pay the fine and handed a formal warning by the commission. It will also undergo a third-party audit to ensure it effectively implements AML and social responsibility policies, procedures and controls.
What did ProgressPlay do wrong?
Setting out some of the AML failings in the case, the regulator said ProgressPlay had failed to conduct an appropriate money laundering and terrorist financing (MLTF) risk assessment. It also did not implement suitable controls to minimise the risk of MLTF.
ProgressPlay was also found to have not considered all risks associated with its business. As such, the commission said it had failed to take a “sufficiently risk-based approach” to AML.
In addition, the regulator said ProgressPlay did not sufficiently scrutinise transactions carried out during the course of customer relationships. This included verifying the source of funds to ensure transactions were consistent with the understanding of a customer, their business activities and risk profile.
Failings with customer interaction at ProgressPlay
As for social responsibility failures, these included not having in place sufficient systems and processes to monitor customer activity when opening an account. The commission said this meant early identification of potential gambling-related harm or implementing appropriate interventions was at risk.
The regulator also noted issues with ProgressPlay’s customer interactions policy. It said this did not properly address requirements set out in the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP).
In addition, concerns were raised over how ProgressPlay carried out interactions and actions with individual customers. This included the continued risk of gambling harm and if further action was needed.
Specifically, ProgressPlay breached paragraphs one, two and three of licence condition 12.1.1 on AML, covering the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing. It also breached licence condition 12.1.2, referencing AML measures on operators based in foreign jurisdictions.
On top of this, the commission flagged failings of paragraphs one, four nine and 12 of social responsibility code provision 3.4.3 for customer interaction. This was also considered a breach of licence conditions.
In addition, the regulator said ProgressPlay failed to adequately consider ordinary code provision 2.1.2 paragraph one and OCP 2.1.1 paragraph two, covering AML.
Commission hits out at ‘unacceptable’ failures
Incidentally, this is the second occasion ProgressPlay that has faced enforcement action. In May 2022, it was ordered to pay £175,718, again for social responsibility and AML failures.
“Failure to meet AML obligations, along with the gaps identified in its social responsibility processes, are unacceptable,” said John Pierce, director of enforcement and intelligence at the commission.
“Gambling businesses must have robust policies and procedures in place to protect consumers. They must ensure appropriate anti-money laundering controls are maintained. These measures must be actively implemented and regularly tested to confirm their effectiveness.
“Operators should be in no doubt: repeated regulatory breaches will result in increasingly severe enforcement action. We urge all operators to examine the failings identified in this case and take proactive steps to strengthen their own systems and controls.”
ProgressPlay accepts fine as part of ‘transformation’
Responding to the announcement, ProgressPlay said it accepted the fine. It said the case relates to historical activity and has made changes to its processes since the breaches took place.
ProgressPlay said it now operates with a dedicated responsible gambling and AML team, supported by an independent monitoring team.
“Rather than simply remediating past findings, we’ve invested £1.5 million in player protection technology and better AML handling,” ProgressPlay CEO Itai Lowenstein said. “This transformation goes far beyond compliance, it’s fundamentally changed how we understand and serve our customers.”
The commission ruled ProgressPlay failed to comply with several licence conditions, and social responsibility code and ordinary code provisions.