£690,947 regulatory action against Lindar Media Ltd.

Shirley Pulis Xerxen September 22, 2023

SiGMA news

£690,947 regulatory action against Lindar Media Ltd.

Lindar Media Ltd. Is facing regulatory action to the tune of £690,947. During the compliance assessment conducted in September 22 and the subsequent regulatory review, officials from the UK Gambling Commission found failings relating to social responsibility and anti-money laundering (AML).

The regulatory settlement consists of a payment of £690,947 in lieu of a financial penalty, including a divestment of £50,947. The money will be directed for socially responsible purposes. The settlement includes an agreement to the publication of a statement of facts and payment of the Commission’s investigation costs.

The company has been fully co-operative throughout its dealings with the Gambling Commission. It took immediate steps to rectify the breaches and, in some cases, had implemented changes prior to the compliance assessment. It also made early disclosure of all relevant facts, accepted the failings at the earliest opportunity and made an early regulatory settlement proposal.

AML failings

A number of failings related to Lindar Media Limited’s implementation of its AML policies, procedures and controls. The Licensee failed to have an appropriate ML and TF risk assessment, as it had adequately assessed risk relating to customers, means of payment, additional inherent risks and emerging risks operator control. One of the key risk factors that the company failed to adhere to is obtaining information about customers’ financial resources to determine whether customers’ spending is proportionate to their income or wealth. Additionally, at the point of registration all customers were automatically assigned a money laundering (ML) risk rating of low. This resulted in insufficient information about the customer at the start of the business relationship to adequately profile the customer and assess the risk of ML or Terrorist Financing (TF).

Responsible gaming failings

The Commission identified failings relating to the customer interaction processes, specifically identifying customers who may be at risk of or experiencing gambling harm. The series of safer gambling triggers used to proactively identify when customers may be experiencing harms were not always effective. Indeed, new customers were able to deposit at high velocity. Furthermore, the Licensee did not have processes in place to identify customers at risk of gambling related harm, or implement early and quick interactions.

Additional failings outline by the Gambling Commission in its findings include:

weaknesses in its reporting arrangements in respect of key events;
the Head of Regulatory Compliance occupied other management posts without the Commission’s approval;
failure to advertise its marketing products in a socially responsible manner;
failure to make an annual financial contribution to an organisation which supports research, prevention and treatment for those harmed by gambling.

Lindar Media Ltd. trades as Mr Q and runs MrQ.com

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