The GB Gambling Commission handed down a £685,000 ($912,00 USD) fine to Greentube Alderney for a variety of compliance and anti-money laundering (AML)violations. It’s a case that shows how complicated compliance and AML can be, even for operators who are making serious efforts to work within the regulations.
Investigators focused their efforts on Greentube’s Greentube’s Admiralcasino.co.uk and Bellfruitcasino.com sites, both of which operate out of Alderney.
Greentube’s rough day with gambling regulators is the result of an investigation that was launched back in December of 2020. Over the course of the investigation, the Commission found a number of compliance issues ranging from an over-reliance on a £1,000 30-day net loss threshold to identify potential signs of problematic gambling to not reporting suspicious behavior in a timely manner. None of the violations were particularly serious, though the Commission noted a number of minor violations in its public report.
Gambling regulators noted that Greentube’s violation were serious enough to warrant a fine, but that the company’s actions weren’t enough to trigger any sort of license suspension or ban. Investigators also pointed out in their report that Greentube officials were very cooperative with the investigation and commended company officials for noting the breaches in a timely manner. (Though they did repeatedly point out that the violations shouldn’t have happened in the first place.)
Greentube’s run-in with gambling regulators shines a light on the complexities of running a regulated online gambling site anywhere in the world. Regulatory compliant gambling operators are responsible for tracking a constellation of data points on each customer, and their source of income. It’s a huge part of any licensed gaming site and even operators that are paying attention to the details can still slip through the cracks.