Star Racing Fined £594,000 By UK Gambling Commission

Gambling operator Star Racing Limited will pay a £594,000 penalty for anti-money laundering and social responsibility failures.

The operator – trading as Star Sports – will also receive an official warning and have conditions added to its licence.

Anti-money laundering failures included having ineffective policies, procedures and controls in place at the time of the compliance assessment; allowing 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 failings occurred between March 2020 and May 2021.

Details of action

Following a review of the operating licence undertaken against Star Racing Limited (“the Licensee”), the Commission found that the Licensee breached:

In line with the Commission’s Licensing, compliance and enforcement policy statement, the Indicative sanctions guidance and the Statement of principles for determining financial penalties, the Commission has decided to:

1. Impose a financial penalty of £594,000 under section 121(1) of the Act 2005
2. Give the Licensee a warning under section 117(1)(a) of the Act.
3. Attach additional conditions to the Licensee’s operating licence under section 117(1)(b) of the Act requiring the Licensee to conduct risk based due diligence on the third parties it transacts with.