Under its UK license, AspireGlobal manages 58 websites and is the owner of various brands, including Casinoluck.com, Greenplay.com, Mrluck.com, and Tangobet.com. The Commission has revealed that AspireGlobal had violated its Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) on several occasions between May 2023 and October 2024.
Aristocrat revealed plans in May 2023 to pay about $1.20 billion to purchase NeoGames, the parent company of AspireGlobal, with the acquisition expected to be finalized by April 2024. AspireGlobal was chastised by the Commission shortly after for failing to adequately enforce anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) regulations. Due to the company’s heavy reliance on financial thresholds, Enhanced Customer Due Diligence (ECDD) checks were delayed.
The Commission noted instances where customers hit financial triggers but faced ECDD reviews weeks later. One player, for example, only had an ECDD review a week after hitting the financial trigger. Moreover, AspireGlobal often did not follow its ECDD policy promptly.
Social Responsibility Lapses
Regarding social responsibility (SR), AspireGlobal breached multiple paragraphs of the Social Responsibility Code Provision (SRCP) 3.4.3. Paragraph 1 mandates customer interaction systems to prevent gambling harm. However, AspireGlobal’s system errors allowed 176 players to deposit a combined $271,000 over the daily loss limit.
Paragraph 4 requires monitoring systems to detect potentially harmful behavior. Yet, AspireGlobal’s procedures were deemed ineffective. In one case, a user lost approximately $8,570 within four hours but was not flagged for a manual review due to system errors.
Further SR violations included relying on automated financial triggers calculated in Euros, leaving players gambling in USD undetected. One player deposited and lost $50,000 in two weeks, yet only received two generic emails and one phone call.
The Commission also flagged failures in self-exclusion measures. One player self-excluded but circumvented the system by using variations of their name and email, opening over 100 accounts. This user spent $36,000 and lost $22,800 over 21 months.
This is the second time AspireGlobal faced enforcement action, having been fined $320,000 in 2022 for AML failures. In agreement with the Commission, AspireGlobal will pay $1.93 million in lieu of a financial penalty and cover investigation costs. John Pierce, the Commission’s director of enforcement, stated, “This case stands as a clear warning to all operators that repeated regulatory failings will result in increasingly stringent enforcement action.”
Aspire Global was contacted for comment but had not responded at the time of publishing.
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