QuinnBet has been ordered to pay more than £600,000 by the Gambling Commission (GC) for significant failures tied to anti-money laundering (AML) and social responsibility.
The commission launched an investigation into the gambling operator when a compliance assessment revealed the AML and social responsibility failures. The GC noted that QuinnBet was fully cooperative throughout, made early and voluntary reports, proactively and voluntarily divested itself of funds, and accepted its failings at an early stage.
The regulatory settlement with the GC includes a payment in lieu of a financial penalty of £609,104, which includes a disgorgement of £193,118. The money will be directed to the UK Government’s Consolidated Fund.
Notably, one customer was allowed to wager over £215,000 in a single day but wasn’t identified until the following day, and another placed 7,000 bets in a single day without being flagged or identified.
John Pierce, Director of Enforcement at the GC, stated: “This case highlights the serious consequences of relying on systems and controls that are unable to identify and respond to indicators of harm and financial crime quickly enough.
“We expect operators to ensure their safeguards are effective in practice to protect consumers and keep crime out of gambling.
“In this case, the operator recognised the issues and took immediate action to make significant improvements to its systems and controls. This included strengthening their AML policies and procedures and improving how they identify and respond to indicators of harm.
“We expect operators to learn from this case and read the public statement to ensure that they do not make the same mistakes. Our key focus is on ensuring that operators meet the standards we expect and, where they fall short, we will take regulatory action where necessary.”
QuinnBet failures
Social responsibility failures by QuinnBet included:
- Deploying a manual process which allowed those aged between 18-24 to spend over deposit limits the operator had set for this potentially vulnerable group.
- Ineffective controls meant signs of potential gambling harm such as high deposits, short high velocity sessions, increasing stakes, number of bets and high turnover were not captured and flagged for manual review. One customer was able to place approximately 4,800 bets in one day, and 7,000 the following day without this being identified and flagged.
- Ineffective controls didn’t always flag indicators of risk of harm promptly for manual intervention or automated processes. Following a large win, one customer’s stakes escalated to the point where over £215,000 was staked in a day with multiple wagers over £5,000, but this was not identified until a report was produced the following day.
- Not effectively ensuring all customers who met the relevant threshold underwent a light touch financial vulnerability check.
AML failures by the operator included:
- Employing insufficient controls to act promptly to identify and mitigate the risk posed by customers who were displaying disproportionate spend. One customer provided payslips that showed monthly earnings of circa £2,000 yet was able to deposit and lose £9,000 in four days.
- Allowing some customers to deposit significant funds without the Source of Funds (SoF) being established to evidence that the monies were from a legitimate source.
- Having insufficient controls to ensure that Suspicious Activity Reports were submitted as soon as practicable after the threshold for suspicion had been met.
This is the first regulatory enforcement action QuinnBet has been issued by the GC, as the operator has been licensed by the commission since September 2022.
Brenda Quinn, Chief Executive Officer of QuinnBet, commented: “Following a compliance assessment in March 2025, the UK Gambling Commission identified areas for improvement within our anti-money laundering and social responsibility controls.
“We took action to address the matters identified, strengthening our policies, procedures and controls and making significant investment in our people and technology. These improvements were subsequently reviewed by the Commission, and the issues identified were resolved to its satisfaction.
“We have agreed a regulatory settlement with the Commission and consider the matter fully resolved. We remain committed to protecting our customers, maintaining robust compliance standards and continuing to strengthen our systems and controls.”
The GC noted that QuinnBet swiftly devised and put in place an appropriate action plan to remedy failings, provided frequent updates, fully co-operated and provided information by agreed deadlines, made early and voluntary reports of some failings, voluntarily and proactively divested itself of funds accrued as a result of some failings, and accepted the failings at an appropriately early stage in the investigation.