Star Sports slapped with £594,000 fine for anti-money laundering and social responsibility failures

Star Sports have become the latest operator to fall foul of the Gambling Commission which has fined the company £594,000 for anti-money laundering and social responsibility failures.

The brand's operating company Star Racing Limited has also received an official warning and had conditions added to its licence for the failings which took place between March 2020 and May 2021.

The Gambling Commission said the operator's anti-money laundering failures included having ineffective policies, procedures and controls in place at the time of the compliance assessment.

They were also found to have allowed customers to deposit large amounts before obtaining source of funds information and failing to analyse source of funds information when it was obtained.

Social responsibility failures included not demonstrating an understanding of the impact and effectiveness of customer interactions in terms of the minimisation of customer risk.

The penalty is the latest punishment handed out to operators by the Gambling Commission in the last 12 months.

In March William Hill were hit with a record £19.2 million penalty, eclipsing the £17m action taken against Ladbrokes and Coral owner Entain last August, but they escaped having their licence suspended by the industry regulator. That followed hot on the heels of a £7.1m fine handed out to two Kindred Group brands.

However, although Gambling Commission deputy chief executive Sarah Gardner referenced recent enforcement cases in a speech last month, she added: "Whilst these examples and recent cases show the scale of some failings in the recent past, we are seeing some hopeful signs that things are improving."

The Racing Post approached Star Sports for comment.

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