Unibet operator fined £10 million for social responsibility failures

Platinum Gaming, the operator of unibet.co.uk and uk.bingo.com, has been fined £10 million for anti-money laundering (AML) and social responsibility failings, the Gambling Commission has said.

It is the second round of enforcement action for Platinum Gaming after it was fined £2.9 million in 2023.

The failures this time round included allowing a player to lose £5,000 in 24 hours of registration and go on to lose more than £16,000 in less than three months.

The operator also failed to interact with a customer who lost more than £31,000 within nine months and hit their monthly loss limit on six occasions.

Another example saw the company fail to interact with a customer who exceeded their £2,500 loss limit within 16 minutes of registering their account as potentially being at risk of harm.

Platinum Gaming will now have to undergo a third-party audit to ensure it is effectively applying its AML and safer gambling procedures, the Gambling Commission has said.

The Gambling Commission’s director of enforcement, John Pierce, 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.”

He added: “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.”