UK Gambling Commission fines company £900,000

The UK Gambling Commission has imposed a £900,000 settlement penalty on L&L Europe Limited following its review of online casino operations. The company runs seven different websites, and violations were found across all of them.

The most notable problem the Commission identified concerned withdrawal processes. The company applied a condition that allowed only one withdrawal request at a time and did not accept a new request until the first one had been approved. The Commission stated that it considered this practice unfair under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. In addition, withdrawals from some players were manually reviewed at the fifth or tenth request, which led to customers being asked for unnecessary additional information.

The investigation also found that anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing controls were inadequate. The company's risk assessment relied mostly on financial thresholds and sampling rather than customer risk profiles. It did not sufficiently evaluate newly opened bank accounts or funds whose source of income was unclear. Responsible gambling warnings were also not applied consistently across all sites.

Sue Young, the Commission's Director of Operations, stressed that consumers must be treated fairly. She said that the ability to withdraw winnings without unfair conditions or unnecessary checks is essential to maintaining trust. The Commission sent a message to the sector that such practices will face serious sanctions.

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