QuinnBet to pay £609,104 over AML and safer-gambling failures 

Online bookmaker QuinnBet (Gibraltar) Limited has agreed to a regulatory settlement of £609,104 ($830,501) with the UK Gambling Commission, after it uncovered significant shortcomings in the operator’s anti‑money laundering (AML) and social responsibility controls. 

Thursday’s agreement closed an extensive compliance review into QuinnBet’s remote gambling licence spanning March 2023 to August 2025.

The settlement included a disgorgement payment of £193,118 and contributions towards the Gambling Commission’s investigation costs. 

As both parties agreed upon a regulatory settlement, all funds will be directed to the UK government’s Consolidated Fund. 

Money from the Consolidated Fund is typically put towards public expenditure, including funding day-to-day public services, government departmental operations and national debt servicing.

Anti-money laundering failings

The regulator identified several AML failures in its investigation, highlighting that QuinnBet “had insufficient controls to act in a timely manner to identify and mitigate the risk posed by customers who were displaying disproportionate spend”. 

One customer with monthly payslips indicating earnings of approximately £2,000 deposited and lost £9,000 within four days.

Another customer deposited around £120,000 and withdrew £111,000 over less than three months, with QuinnBet failing to verify the source of these funds.

The review also criticised delays in submitting Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) and cited errors during a platform migration, resulting in 194 customers being able to exceed deposit limits unintentionally.

The operator ultimately breached Licence Condition 12.1.1, which requires effective AML policies, as well as Social Responsibility Code Provisions (SRCP) 3.4.3 and 3.4.4 concerning timely identification, response and evaluation of customer behaviour indicative of harm.

Social responsibility (safer-gambling) failings

QuinnBet’s approach to identifying and mitigating gambling harm was found to be lacking due to an over-reliance on manual interventions and slow alerts. 

One notable incident included a player placing approximately 4,800 bets in one day and 7,000 the next without triggering any internal warnings.

Another customer staked more than £215,000 in a single day after a large win, with the activity not being flagged until the following day’s morning report.

The regulator also noted the presence of a manual system for applying lower deposit limits for customers aged 18-24, which occasionally allowed younger players to exceed their limits by extended periods. One such player deposited eight times their monthly limit and lost the sum within a single day.

‘Expect operators to ensure their safeguards’

Director of enforcement at the Gambling Commission, John Pierce, emphasised the prominence of the case in highlighting “the serious consequences of relying on systems and controls that are unable to identify and respond to indicators of harm and financial crime quickly enough”.

“We expect operators to ensure their safeguards are effective in practice to protect consumers and keep crime out of gambling,” he added.

Pierce acknowledged that QuinnBet had recognised the failings and took prompt action to strengthen both AML policies and harm identification processes.

The Commission further acknowledged QuinnBet’s cooperation in the investigation. This included voluntary reporting of certain failings and swift development of an appropriate remedial action plan, considering these as mitigating factors. 

However, aggravating factors included the Commission’s previous public statements about similar issues at other operators.

Operator-side failings at heart of AML risks

A crackdown on AML has been at the forefront for the Gambling Commission in recent weeks. Following the publication of a risk assessment report evaluating money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) vulnerabilities across Britain’s licensed gambling industry, the Commission found that operator-side failings remained a major contributor to AML/CTF risk. 

Across multiple subsectors, the Commission noted deficient AML/CTF policies and controls as well as poorly trained personnel.

The report also noted the inadequate or improperly set AML thresholds and the weak monitoring of linked or duplicate accounts.

Adult gaming centre operator Holland Park Leisure Limited was fined this week for failing to join the mandatory multi-operator self-exclusion scheme.