The Gambling Commission (GC) has confirmed it has reached a £5m settlement with Rank Group over anti-money laundering (AML) and social responsibility violations.
The sanction relates to the conduct of Rank’s land-based casino network, operated by Grosvenor Casinos Limited and Gaming Group Limited, which run 51 venues across the UK.
In a trading update published in July, Rank confirmed it was preparing to pay £5m in lieu of a financial penalty to the GC over “historical compliance failings”, and that it had submitted a settlement proposal to the regulator in May.
A Rank statement read: “The Rank Group Plc previously reported in July that it had made a £5m provision in the group’s 2025/26 accounts for a proposed regulatory settlement with the Gambling Commission in lieu of a financial penalty relating to historical failings in the Grosvenor venues business.
“The group confirms that, following completion of the Gambling Commission’s review, the group has accepted a £5m regulatory settlement in line with the provision. There is no further impact on the group’s profits.
“As also indicated at the time of the group’s 2025/26 preliminary results, remedial actions have been substantially completed.”
According to the GC’s investigation, Rank had not have updated its AML policies to in line with changes to the new Money Laundering Regulations introduced in 2020.
Other AML failings included implementing policies, procedures and controls “which allowed inconsistent decisions to be applied to customers with elevated money laundering risk”.
Rank was also accused of having unclear policies, procedures and controls which led to “inappropriate risk levels being ascribed to high-risk customers and high-risk sources of funds being used by customers without appropriate scrutiny”.
The regulator ruled the Mecca parent company was not carrying out sufficient customer due diligence checks in line with its own policies.
Social responsibility violations included failing to carry out safer gambling interactions with a customer during a period in which they lost £50,000.
Another example was a lack of interaction with a customer who won roughly £260,000, before losing around £250,000 within 12 days.
The regulator also found Rank neglected to keep tabs on a customer who had just returned from a period of self-exclusion up until they lost £25,000.
In addition to the payment, Rank’s land-based network will also undergo a third-party audit to ensure they are effectively implementing AML and safer gambling protocols going forward.
The GC’s executive director of operations, Sue Young, said: “Larger enforcement cases are often associated with online gambling but, as today’s announcement shows, the risks of anti-money laundering and social responsibility failures are equally alive in the land-based sector.
“We would advise all premises-based operators to take a careful look at this case and ensure their own business is not making the same mistakes, and therefore do not face costly and inevitable Commission action.”
So far this year, both QuinnBet and Betfred have been issued GC sanctions for similar violations, to the tune of £609,000 and £900,000, respectively.
The regulator also reached a £4.75m settlement with Evolution after the slots supplier’s games were found on unlicensed sites targeting UK players.
The post Gambling Commission confirms £5m Rank Group sanction over AML and RG failings first appeared on EGR Intel.
Settlement rubber stamped after previous discussions between both parties, with the operator’s land-based network to undergo a third-party audit
The post Gambling Commission confirms £5m Rank Group sanction over AML and RG failings first appeared on EGR Intel.