ProgressPlay, which runs 134 betting sites, has been hit with a £1m fine after the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) found serious flaws in its anti-money laundering and player protection procedures.

The operator has also been issued a formal warning and will face an independent audit of its operations. This is the second time ProgressPlay has been sanctioned for similar compliance issues, having paid £175,718 back in 2022.

Failings in AML and player protection

The regulator found that ProgressPlay failed to carry out a proper money laundering and terrorist financing risk assessment and did not introduce sufficient controls to minimise risk.

Oversight of customer transactions was found to be lacking. In several cases, the company reportedly did not carry out sufficient checks on where funds were coming from, meaning deposits and play were not always assessed against what the operator knew about a customer’s background or risk level.

The Commission also raised concerns around player protection. Monitoring at the point of sign-up was described as too limited, reducing the chance of spotting early signs of problem gambling or putting timely interventions in place.

The operator’s customer interaction framework was found to be incomplete and lacked the ability to properly evaluate the effectiveness of interventions.

Regulator response

John Pierce, Director of Enforcement and Intelligence at the Gambling Commission, described the breaches as unacceptable, particularly given ProgressPlay’s history of previous failings. He warned that operators should expect increasingly severe action if they do not learn from past enforcement cases.

He said: “Gambling businesses must have robust policies and procedures in place to protect consumers and ensure appropriate anti-money laundering controls are maintained. These measures must be actively implemented and regularly tested to confirm their effectiveness.

“As part of the regulatory outcome, ProgressPlay is now required to undergo an independent third-party audit to assess the adequacy of its compliance arrangements across these areas.”

The investigation in 2022 specifically found ‘repeated breaches of licence conditions’ by Progress Play due to a lack of internal controls and procedures, which at the time the licensee was warned it ‘should have been aware of’.

“Operators should be in no doubt: repeated regulatory breaches will result in increasingly severe enforcement action,” Pierce added. “We urge all operators to examine the failings identified in this case and take proactive steps to strengthen their own systems and controls.”

A strengthened penalty framework

The case comes as the UKGC announced new reforms In June in regards to the way it calculates and applies financial penalties. The regulator confirmed it would adopt a clearer seven-step process when determining fines, including new guidance on how the seriousness of a breach is assessed.

Under the new framework, the starting point for a penalty will be linked to both the scale of the breach and the revenue earned during the period in question. 

The final figure may then be increased or reduced depending on the circumstances of the case, including whether aggravating factors are present, how quickly the operator resolved the failings, and the need to send a wider deterrent message to the market.

The regulator said these changes are aimed at making enforcement more consistent and transparent, while still ensuring outcomes remain proportionate.

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