{"id":106812,"date":"2019-06-12T13:01:09","date_gmt":"2019-06-12T20:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=106812"},"modified":"2019-06-12T13:01:09","modified_gmt":"2019-06-12T20:01:09","slug":"gamesys-ordered-to-return-over-460000-in-stolen-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gamesys-ordered-to-return-over-460000-in-stolen-money\/","title":{"rendered":"Gamesys Ordered to Return Over \u00a3460,000 in Stolen Money Gambled Online by Criminals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Software provider and operator Gamesys has been ordered to repay \u00a3460,472 ($584,000) to victims of thieves who played on its gambling platforms with stolen money.<\/p>\n

\"Gamesys\"
The UKGC found Gamesys was guilty of a variety of longstanding failures that had allowed stolen money to \u201cflow through the business.\u201d The regulator has adopted a zero-tolerance policy for non compliance in recent years. (Image: Gamesys)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The UK gambling regulator (UKGC) has also ordered the company to forfeit \u00a3690,000 ($875,000) for violating money laundering regulations and \u201cfailing to prevent gambling harm,\u201d bringing the total penalty to just under \u00a31.2 million ($1.52 million).<\/p>\n

The regulator said in a statement Wednesday that it launched a review of the company\u2019s procedures following police investigations that uncovered three instances where criminals unnamed by the regulator had deposited some of the proceeds of their crimes into Gamesys platforms.<\/p>\n

The London-based company operates the popular Jackpot Joy and Virgin Games brands, among others.<\/p>\n

It concluded that a \u201cvariety of failures\u201d that lasted for a sustained period of time saw \u201cstolen money flowing through the business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Red Flags Ignored <\/strong><\/h2>\n

The UKGC said that, despite some customers displaying behavioural signals that could indicate problem gambling, Gamesys failed to comply with regulations that demand increased customer interaction when such red flags appear. It also failed to comply with anti-money-laundering rules, such as establishing the source of customers\u2019 funds.<\/p>\n

It is vital that operators understand their customers — track their online gambling and step in quickly when they suspect someone is suffering from gambling harm,\u201d said Gambling Commission Executive Director Richard Watson.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThese key steps and processes ensure they meet both their anti-money laundering and social-responsibility obligations for all customers,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The UKGC has upped the financial penalties<\/a> for compliance failures over the past few years, a sign that the political mood has turned against the country\u2019s liberalized online gambling sector.<\/p>\n

In 2016, the industry paid \u00a31.6 million ($2 million) in fines for its transgressions; the following year that rose tenfold to \u00a318 million ($22.8 million).<\/p>\n

Prison for Dogs-Home Embezzler<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Last year, Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) was fined \u00a32.2 million<\/a> ($2.8 million), for failing to prevent two customers from gambling \u201csignificant sums\u201d through its betting exchange.<\/p>\n

One of these was the former chief executive of Birmingham Dogs Home, Simon Price, a gambling addict who embezzled \u00a3900,000 ($1.1 million) in legacy payments to the charity, \u00a3650,000 ($825,000) of which he blew on Betfair.<\/p>\n

Sentencing Price to five years in prison, a judge told him he had weakened public confidence in the charity and damaged its ability to raise the \u00a31.85 million ($2.35 million) a year it needed to stay open.<\/p>\n

Price was unable to pay back any of the money, but the charity was ultimately reimbursed from the fine PPB agreed to pay.<\/p>\n

In Gamesys\u2019 case, the UKGC acknowledged that the operator had made \u201cproactive and timely improvements\u201d to address the issues and had been \u201copen and transparent from the outset of the investigation, fully co-operative throughout, and actively self-identifying the issues in each of the three cases.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Software provider and operator Gamesys has been ordered to repay \u00a3460,472 ($584,000) to victims of thieves who played on its gambling platforms with stolen money. The UK gambling regulator (UKGC) has also ordered the company to forfeit \u00a3690,000 ($875,000) for violating money laundering regulations and \u201cfailing to prevent gambling harm,\u201d bringing the total penalty to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":106816,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,19,13592],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGamesys Ordered to Return Over \u00a3460,000 in Stolen Money<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gamesys, operator of the Jackpot Joy and Virgin Games brands, will pay just under 1.2 million for allowing stolen money to flow through business.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gamesys-ordered-to-return-over-460000-in-stolen-money\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gamesys Ordered to Return Over \u00a3460,000 in Stolen Money\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gamesys, operator of the Jackpot Joy and Virgin Games brands, will pay just under 1.2 million for allowing stolen money to flow through business.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gamesys-ordered-to-return-over-460000-in-stolen-money\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-06-12T20:01:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/gamesys.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gamesys-ordered-to-return-over-460000-in-stolen-money\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gamesys-ordered-to-return-over-460000-in-stolen-money\/\",\"name\":\"Gamesys Ordered to Return Over \u00a3460,000 in Stolen Money\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gamesys-ordered-to-return-over-460000-in-stolen-money\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gamesys-ordered-to-return-over-460000-in-stolen-money\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/gamesys.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-06-12T20:01:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-06-12T20:01:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Gamesys, operator of the Jackpot Joy and Virgin Games brands, will pay just under 1.2 million for allowing stolen money to flow through business.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gamesys-ordered-to-return-over-460000-in-stolen-money\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gamesys-ordered-to-return-over-460000-in-stolen-money\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gamesys-ordered-to-return-over-460000-in-stolen-money\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/gamesys.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/gamesys.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":675,\"caption\":\"The UKGC found Gamesys was guilty of a variety of longstanding failures that had allowed stolen money to \u201cflow through the business.\u201d The UKGC has adopted a zero-tolerance policy for non-compliance in recent years. 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