Greentube Alderney Limited to pay £1m for regulatory failures @ ADMIRALCASINO.CO.UK [09 January 2025]

Online gambling business Greentube Alderney Limited [GAL], trading as Admiral Casino, will pay £1 million after a Commission investigation revealed failures in social responsibility and anti-money laundering.

This is the second time Greentube has faced regulatory action – in 2021, the operator paid out £685,000 after a Commission investigation revealed social responsibility and money laundering failures.

GAL, the operator that runs ADMIRALCASINO.CO.UK, will donate the money to socially responsible causes as part of a settlement with the Commission.

Social responsibility failures included:

1. Not fully implementing its policy to ensure customer limits are based on regular, sustainable income instead of one-off or irregular forms of income.
2. Not fully implementing its processes to ensure the documents customers supplied were genuine.
3. Not fully implementing its controls to identify vulnerability indicators or potential harm promptly.
   1. One customer supplied a bank statement as proof of address that had a negative opening and closing balance and included numerous transactions with another gambling operator.
   2. Still, the information was not reviewed or escalated until the customer had deposited £4,000 over four months.
4. Anti-money laundering failures included:
   1. Not constantly scrutinising available information upon receipt or promptly, leading to an avoidable delay in the identification and potential escalation of money laundering and/or terrorist financing risks.
      1. One customer provided a bank statement showing complex and unusual transactions - including over £100,000 being transferred in and out of the account and a negative closing balance – yet the statement was only scrutinised and escalated four months later.
   2. Not always following its policy regarding what it refers to as “risky occupations”.
      1. In one example, the potential increased risk posed by a ‘finance manager’—who had access to funds that could be misappropriated and laundered—was not recognised or built into the customer’s risk profile, and no steps were taken to mitigate the increased risk.
   3. Not always thoroughly investigate and promptly escalate accounts showing apparent links to other accounts, leading to an avoidable delay in investigating, escalating, and acting to mitigate the potential risk of accounts being funded or controlled by a different account holder.
      1. In one example, the operator failed to consider and escalate an account with the same address and surname as another customer (whose account was blocked) known to have convictions for the supply of class-A drugs.

John Pierce, Commission Director of Enforcement, said:

• "This case arose from a follow-up compliance assessment designed to ensure the operator continued applying lessons learned from previous regulatory action.
• "While we noted that the business had made significant general improvements, further regulatory breaches were still identified. The operator was subsequently required to swiftly implement an effective action plan to remedy all the identified failings.
• "We want to remind all operators that any business found to breach rules designed to keep gambling safe and free from crime for a second time should expect increasingly stringent enforcement action. Any failure to uphold anti-money laundering standards is unacceptable, and today’s action reflects the gravity of the breaches identified.
• "We will continue to monitor this operator to ensure they consistently meet the required regulatory standards."

Public statements

• Greentube Alderney Limited Public Statement
• Published: 9 January 2025
• https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/news/article/greentube-alderney-limited-to-pay-gbp1m-for-regulatory-failures