ONLINE NEWS 8
88 has been issued a penalty of £7.8m (8.5m Euro/$10.1m) by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) as a result of “failings” in its handling of vulnerable customers.
888 fined £7.8m L
In a statement published on the UKGC website, the national regulatory body said the fine represents a record financial penalty and follows the discovery of “significant flaws” in 888’s social responsibility processes. The UKGC, which announced in May that it was to
review 888’s UK licence, found that a technical failure in the operator’s systems meant over 7,000 customers who had chosen to self-exclude from the casino/poker/sport platform were still able to access their accounts via the 888Bingo platform.
In addition, £4.25m from the fine will be paid to a socially responsible cause to invest in measures to tackle gambling-related harm, while the UKGC has ordered an independent audit of 888’s processes relating to customer protection.
888 said in a statement that it worked “cooperatively” with the UKGC throughout the review, adding: “The company accepts the conclusion of the review and is committed to providing players with a responsible as well as enjoyable gaming experience.”
Expert commentary from Peter
Murray, Head of Gaming at identity data intelligence company GBG:
“In today’s complex and ever- changing online environment, gambling companies need to
demonstrate they have the ability to understand their customers intimately. This applies both at the point somebody registers to use a site and how they subsequently behave.
The customers in question deposited £3.5m into their accounts during the period that the issue was undetected and were able to gamble for the entire time. The UKGC also concluded that 888 failed to recognise visible signs of problem gambling behaviour displayed by an individual customer, which in turn led to criminal activity. The customer staked more than £1.3m through 888, including £55,000 stolen from their employer, over a 13- month period, with an average of three or four large bets placed each day.
The UKGC criticised 888 for its lack of interaction with the customer, given the frequency, duration and sums of money involved in the bets. Sarah Harrison, chief executive of the UKGC, said: “Safeguarding consumers is not optional; this penalty package reflects the seriousness of 888’s failings to protect vulnerable customers. The 888 sanction package will ensure those affected don’t lose out, that the operator pays the price for its failings via a sum that will go to tackling gambling-related harm, and that independent assurance will be given to see that lessons are learnt.”
The fine includes a repayment of £3.5m of deposits made by the self-excluded customers and compensation of £62,000 to the employer from whom money was stolen.
Many companies operate multiple brands and this
presents the challenge of players registering accounts across different sites, often using different personal information. When protecting vulnerable players, therefore, it’s not as simple as excluding someone based on name, email address and payment card details. To accurately identify a person at the point of registration, multi-factor checks are needed to assess if it is the same individual. For example, what’s the IP address of a device? It’s unfair to place the responsibility of self-exclusion on players themselves. By the very nature of the condition, those with an addiction will look to find a way around preventative measures. Therefore, technology must be used to monitor every transaction, automatically detecting when player behaviour has changed, indicative of problem-gambling. With this intelligence, gambling companies can instantly decide whether to communicate to the player or freeze an account entirely. This is the same technology that already exists to prevent fraud, by identifying transactions that are uncharacteristic in a pattern of behaviour.
Operators must be able to take instant action when customer behaviours change, to ensure they provide a positive player experience whilst also meeting their risk, compliance and social obligations.”
UltraPlay rolls out esports offering with
BetOnline.ag U
ltraPlay has agreed a deal to provide its esports betting data services to North American online operator
BetOnline.ag. Customers will now be able to place bets on professional esports contests based around video games such as LOL, CS:GO, DOTA2, Hearthstone
and Overwatch.
The UltraPlay esports betting suite offers betting on over 3,000 esports events per month, as well as 1,500 in-play events and live streaming of certain contests. Mario Ovcharov, chief marketing officer at
SIS boosts reach with Codere
ive pictures and data supplier SIS (Sports Information Services), has signed a five- year deal with Codere to provide the Spanish bookmaker with its new and improved SIS greyhound service. As part of the agreement, SIS will supply live pictures, commentary and data for horses and greyhounds across the operator’s entire retail
estate. The new service has been developed by working closely with race tracks and bookmakers to create an improved service which meets the market’s growing expectations. Operators across the globe will now be able to take advantage of a more tailored offer with better quality racing and scheduling, creating more betting opportunities at times which suit operators’ needs. In addition, all UK licensed betting offices (LBOs) will take the new greyhound service from 1st January 2018. SIS Product Director Paul Witten said: “SIS has produced high quality and reliable content for the betting industry for 30 years and we have now developed an even higher quality greyhound product for the international market.” Peter Lucas, Trading Director at
Codere, said: “With increasing demand for greyhound racing in our market in recent years, SIS’s new greyhound service provides our customers with high quality content, at times that suit them.”
UltraPlay, said: “
BetOnline.ag is offering diversified, dynamic and exciting betting experience which makes the brand one of the players’ most favourite on the market. We are absolutely thrilled to enrich the offerings of
BetOnline.ag with our unrivalled esports betting product suite.”
SEPTEMBER 2017 103
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