AG Communications Fined £1.4m for Safety Failings
Operator penalised for widespread social responsibility and anti-money laundering breaches, including major self-exclusion failures.
The UK Gambling Commission has ordered AG Communications to pay £1.4 million for significant social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures. The investigation found a self-excluded customer was able to open over 100 accounts, and a system error allowed others to deposit £220,334 over their loss limits.
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The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has ordered AG Communications Limited to pay a £1.4 million settlement following an investigation that uncovered significant failings in its social responsibility and anti-money laundering (AML) controls. The announcement was made on 4 March 2025.
The regulatory review, which covered a period between May 2023 and October 2024, found multiple breaches of the operator's licence conditions. The UKGC highlighted that some of the issues were repeats of failings identified in a previous assessment.
Widespread Social Responsibility Breaches
The investigation revealed serious shortcomings in AG Communications' duty to protect customers. Key social responsibility failures included:
- Self-Exclusion System Failure: The operator's systems were not robust enough to prevent a self-excluded customer from opening over 100 new accounts by using variations of their personal details. This individual went on to deposit approximately £30,000 and lose £19,000 over a 21-month period.
- Flawed Loss Limits: A system error meant a backstop daily loss limit was not working correctly for 176 customers. This allowed them to deposit a combined total of £220,334 more than their set limits.
- Ineffective Customer Interaction: The operator failed to act on clear indicators of harm. In one case, a student lost around £6,000 in 48 hours with no meaningful interaction. In another, a customer lost £7,000 in just over four hours. Interactions were often limited to generic emails that had no impact on customer behaviour, and staff failed to escalate concerns appropriately.
- Technical Deficiencies: Automated financial triggers designed to flag at-risk players were calculated only in Euros. This meant customers depositing in other currencies, such as Pound Sterling, were not always identified for review in a timely manner.
Anti-Money Laundering and Other Failings
Beyond player safety, the UKGC also identified breaches related to anti-money laundering procedures. The operator was found to be overly reliant on financial thresholds to trigger reviews and delayed conducting Enhanced Customer Due Diligence (ECDD) checks once those triggers were met.
Further breaches included:
- Failure to Report: AG Communications did not notify the Commission of Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) within the required five working days, instead submitting them in batches months later.
- Lack of Transparency: The terms and conditions on one of its white-label sites, Neptuneplay.com, failed to inform customers about the level of protection for their funds in the event of insolvency.
- Broken Information: A link to the operator's betting rules on the same website was found to be non-functional.
Settlement and Regulatory Action
The regulatory settlement of £1,407,834 is a payment in lieu of a financial penalty. It includes a divestment of £220,334, representing the amount customers deposited over the flawed loss limits. The entire sum will be directed to socially responsible causes.
The Commission noted several aggravating factors, including the seriousness of the breaches and the fact that AG Communications had been subject to a previous licence review and had failed to address issues identified in an earlier compliance assessment.
In mitigation, the regulator acknowledged that the operator cooperated with the investigation, admitted its failings at an early stage, and has since implemented an action plan and agreed to a third-party audit to improve its procedures.