Rank Group pays £5m Gambling Commission settlement over AML lapses

Rank Group has agreed a £5m regulatory settlement with the Gambling Commission following an investigation that uncovered anti-money laundering and social responsibility failings, SBC News reported.

The LSE-listed operator, which owns Grosvenor Casino, Mecca Bingo and Enracha, disclosed in its full-year results in August that it had already set aside £5m in anticipation of a settlement. The company said the payment will not affect group profits and has not triggered a fall in its share price.

The case extends a recent run of Commission enforcement action over AML failings. Bet St George and BresBet both had their licences suspended and subsequently stopped trading over similar issues, Ken Howells has had its licence suspended, and QuinnBet was ordered to pay £609,104. The Commission classed the UK's gambling software sector as a 'medium risk' for money laundering and terrorist financing in early August.

Sue Young, the Commission's Executive Director of Operations, said larger enforcement cases are often associated with online gambling but that the Rank Group case showed anti-money laundering and social responsibility risks are equally present in the land-based sector. She said premises-based operators should examine the case closely to ensure they are not repeating the same mistakes, warning that failure to do so risks costly Commission action.

The investigation focused on Rank Group's 51 Grosvenor Casino venues in the UK. The Commission found that Grosvenor had not updated its policies to reflect the 2020 Money Laundering Regulations, resulting in incorrect customer risk ratings.

Investigators also found that venue managers were given decision-making freedom without sufficient oversight from central compliance teams, which allowed higher-risk customers to gamble without adequate Source of Funds or Source of Wealth checks.

The Commission described Rank Group's cryptocurrency policies as lacking clarity, noting that staff were only required to confirm that crypto had been converted into sterling rather than examine the origin or legitimacy of the assets. A Chinese student and other crypto users were classified as 'standard risk' despite internal policy requiring a higher-risk categorisation and immediate enhanced due diligence.

Social responsibility failings were also identified. One returning customer lost £200,000 across two visits without photographic ID or proof of income on file. In another case, a customer who won around £260,000 went on to lose £250,000 of those winnings over 12 days without any safer gambling interactions being recorded.

The findings come as Rank Group's Chief Executive Officer, Richard Harris, lobbies government against a rumoured doubling of Machine Games Duty, which he has warned could wipe out a third of the company's portfolio. Anti-gambling campaigners are likely to point to the Grosvenor failings as they weigh that argument.

Rank Group told the London Stock Exchange that it has tightened its operations at the affected venues, stating that "remedial actions have been substantially completed".

The Commission used its enforcement notice to issue a broader warning to the industry, stating: "Gambling operators should take account of the failings identified in this investigation to ensure industry learning."