Maple International Ventures has been ordered to pay £360,000 after the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) uncovered failings in the operator’s approach to social responsibility and anti-money laundering.

The settlement, announced this week, requires Maple – which runs the online betting and casino site Lottomart.com – to pay the full amount to socially responsible causes.

Failings and regulatory response

The shortcomings were identified during a compliance assessment carried out by the regulator. According to the UKGC, Maple failed to apply effective safeguards to protect customers and prevent financial crime, leading to the enforcement action.

John Pierce, Commission Director of Enforcement, said: “The cornerstone of every licensed business must be the proper implementation of effective policies and procedures aimed at making gambling crime free and safer.

“This operator is now being held to account for anti-money laundering and social responsibility failings uncovered during a compliance assessment.

“We would advise all operators to read the Maple International Ventures public statement and consider whether their own policies and procedures are both effective and are being successfully implemented.”

Enforcement backdrop and new penalty process

The penalty comes in the wake of a string of enforcement cases brought by the UKGC in the first half of the year. In July, the regulator announced that it would overhaul the way financial penalties are calculated, aiming to bring greater transparency and consistency to its decision-making.

Fines and enforcement actions will now follow a new seven-step process, with breaches ranked across five levels of seriousness. The scale of financial penalties will be linked to the gravity of the breach and measured against a percentage of an operator’s annual gross gambling yield or other income.

Explaining the changes back in July, Pierce said: “We are making changes to strengthen the transparency and consistency of how we impose financial penalties.

“These proposals were subject to extensive consultation, and the views shared by all our stakeholders have been taken into account.

“The resulting changes will strengthen our decision-making and streamline the calculation of penalties – helping to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our enforcement work.”

Industry Implications

The Maple International Ventures settlement underlines the UKGC’s commitment to holding operators to account under its tightened enforcement regime. The regulator has urged the wider market to review its own systems, with the Commission warning that failings in anti-money laundering and player protection will result in significant penalties under the new framework.