A gambling business will pay a £10 million penalty after a UK Gambling Commission investigation revealed Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and social responsibility failings.

Platinum Gaming Limited – which operates unibet.co.uk and uk.bingo.com – will also receive a warning and have to undergo a third-party audit to ensure it is effectively implementing its anti-money laundering and safer gambling policies, procedures and controls.

Social responsibility failures included: employing a customer interaction system which failed to identify a player as at risk of harm despite the player losing £5,000 within 24 hours of registration and going on to lose more than £16,000 in less than three months. 

Not interacting with a consumer who lost over £31,000 within nine months, hit their monthly loss limit on six occasions, and demonstrated markers of harm associated with high velocity gambling.

Not identifying a consumer who exceeded their £2,500 loss limit within 16 minutes of registering their account as potentially being at risk of harm. The operator also failed to identify binge gambling. 

Not interacting with a customer during a 23-day period in which they staked £73,000 and lost £4,100.

Anti-money laundering failures included: the Licensee’s money laundering/terrorist financing risk assessment failed to take into account customers whose account(s) had been closed by the Licensee due to money laundering or terrorist funding concerns prior to 2023. This enabled some customers whose accounts had been blocked to open new accounts and gamble.

the AML policy in place at the time lacked clarity around the level of customer due-diligence and enhanced customer due-diligence measures conducted and how this was determined by the level of risk displayed by a customer. 

Despite being covered in the Licensee’s risk assessment, there was no evidence that potential high-risk factors such as high-risk occupation, high levels of transactions through deposits and withdrawals and a high level of loss, had been considered when customer reviews were undertaken.

This is the second occasion Platinum Gaming have faced enforcement action – in 2023 they were fined £2.9m for social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures.

John Pierce, Commission Director of Enforcement, said: “While industry wide progress has been made in reducing unchecked high spending, the failings at Platinum Gaming are particularly disappointing. The case revealed serious shortcomings in customer interaction systems, including failures to identify and act on clear markers of harm. These included consumers losing thousands within hours or days of registration, repeatedly breaching loss limits, and exhibiting patterns of binge and high-velocity gambling without appropriate intervention.

“Significant anti-money laundering failures were also identified. These included gaps in the licensee’s risk assessment, which failed to account for previously blocked accounts linked to money laundering concerns, and a lack of clarity in the AML policy around due diligence thresholds. Customer reviews did not consistently consider high-risk factors, despite these being outlined in the licensee’s own framework.”

He continued: “Alongside the £10 million financial penalty this operator is required to conduct a follow-up independent audit and internal investigation – providing regular updates to the Commission. These added conditions are designed to drive meaningful change, reinforce accountability, and embed a culture of compliance. 

“Senior leaders must take ownership of compliance outcomes and ensure lessons are embedded across the organisation, supported by structured reporting and board level oversight – and further regulatory activity will remain a possibility.”