Customers given withdrawal deadline for In Touch sites
The Gambling Commission suspended In Touch’s three operating licences, saying it may be “unsuitable” to carry out licensed activities.
Passing the ruling, the Commission flagged conditions concerning money laundering, fair and transparent terms and practices and reporting key events. The suspension was effective immediately from the date of the announcement (4 September).
Its British licences cover online casino, bingo and gambling software. Its brands include Bonusboss.co.uk, Cashmo.co.uk, Casino.mfortune.co.uk, Casino2020.co.uk, Drslot.co.uk, Jammymonkey.com, Mfortune.co.uk, Mrspin.co.uk, Pocketwin.co.uk and Slotfactory.com.
In Touch to return funds to players
In Touch has since surrendered its licence and contacted customers about their accounts. The operator said it will attempt to return any outstanding balances to players via their registered payment methods.
Players will have until 6 March next year to log in to and manually withdraw any remaining funds. They can also speak with customer support through a live chat function.
However, in line with the suspension, players can no longer access games or deposit more funds into their accounts on any of the sites.
In Touch will continue to contact users to remind them to withdraw funds. After the 6 March deadline, the websites and accompanying apps will close and customers will no longer be able to access their accounts.
The operator will hold any remaining balances. Players wanting to access their funds after the closure date will need to contact customer support via email.
“If you have any outstanding balance on your account, we will attempt to return these to your registered payment methods,” In Touch said in emails to customers. “However, where this [is] not possible (for example, where the payment method has expired), we encourage you to access your account to request a withdrawal.
“Please be assured that your outstanding balance will remain protected until these are returned to you.”
Suspension follows £6.1m fine
The suspension will remain in place while the Commission carries out a review of In Touch and its activities. This is in accordance with section 118 (2) of the Gambling Act 2005. The review is taking place under section 116 of the Act.
This follows the Commission fining In Touch £6.1m (€7.1m/$7.6m) in January of this year. This was for a series of social responsibility and anti-money laundering (AML) failures.
At the time, the regulator said the operator failed a compliance assessment in March 2022. It took action as a result of this.
Social responsibility failures included In Touch not interacting with a customer until seven weeks after being flagged for interaction for erratic play patterns and extended periods of play.
As for AML failures, these included not adequately taking account of the risk of a user being a beneficiary of a life insurance policy, having links to high-risk jurisdictions, or being a politically exposed person (PEP), family member of a PEP or known close associates of a PEP, within its AML and terrorist financing risk assessment.