UKGC and SkillOnNet Reach £305K Settlement
LISTEN TO THIS ARTICLE:The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has reached an agreement for a six-figure settlement with the iGaming operator SkillOnNet after it was found guilty of social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures.
SkillOnNet is to pay £305,150 in place of a financial penalty as part of the agreement and the money will be donated to socially responsible causes.
The operator has been hit with the penalty due to breaches of the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) and it comes after a regulatory review that found that SkillOnNet did not have sufficient policies, procedures and controls to meet its Anti-Money Laundering (AML) obligations.
The review also found that SkillOnNet was lacking in its gambling policies, procedures, controls, and practices, and that there were problems with implementation between January 2021 and December 2022.
These problems included a lack of procedures that examined players’ salaries or wealth in order to find problem gambling, failure to recognize night gambling as a marker of harm, and allowing players to spend more than double the maximum limit using unverified payment methods.
As well as paying the £305,150 settlement, SkillOnNet will also pay £9079 in costs towards the UKGC’s investigation.
UKGC's Findings on SkillOnNet
The UK Gambling Commission identified significant customer interaction failings in SkillOnNet's operations, leading to breaches of SRCP 3.4.1. These occurred between January 2021 and March 2022 and included the inability to identify customers exhibiting gambling harm markers, especially following significant wins. The company also overlooked the harmful effects of excessive night gambling, and in certain instances, allowed customers to deposit and lose amounts exceeding their verified monthly income.
SkillOnNet's reliance on automated pop-ups for customer interaction was ineffective in minimizing harm risk. In one case, despite receiving numerous safer gambling popups, a customer deposited a total of £16,000 and experienced a net loss of £3224.74 over 41 days, showing the operator's failure to capture necessary risk information effectively.
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