UK Gambling Commission Fines ProgressPlay £1 Million Over Compliance Failures

ProgressPlay, a white-label operator running more than 130 gambling websites, has been hit with a £1 million fine after regulators flagged major failings in its anti-money laundering (AML) and social responsibility processes.

Good to know

• ProgressPlay operates sites like Acedbet.com, Casinomite.com, and Playmagical.com.
• The Gambling Commission ordered a third-party audit alongside the fine.
• It’s the second time ProgressPlay has faced enforcement since 2022.

The Gambling Commission said ProgressPlay breached licence conditions between August 2021 and August 2024. Failings included a lack of proper risk assessments around money laundering and terrorist financing, as well as insufficient controls to monitor transactions and verify sources of funds.

The watchdog said the company had not taken a “sufficiently risk-based approach” to AML and fell short in identifying potential gambling-related harm among customers.

John Pierce, director of enforcement and intelligence at the commission, described the lapses as unacceptable:

“Failure to meet AML obligations, along with the gaps identified in its social responsibility processes, are unacceptable. Gambling businesses must have robust policies and procedures in place to protect consumers. Operators should be in no doubt: repeated regulatory breaches will result in increasingly severe enforcement action.”

Social Responsibility Issues

The regulator also criticized ProgressPlay’s customer interaction policies. It said the operator lacked systems to properly monitor new accounts or identify early signs of problem gambling. In several cases, interactions with players failed to meet requirements outlined in the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP).

These failures meant ProgressPlay breached multiple AML and social responsibility provisions, including licence conditions 12.1.1 and 12.1.2 on money laundering prevention, as well as code provision 3.4.3 on customer interaction.

ProgressPlay accepted the fine and said the case related to historical practices that have since been overhauled.

CEO Itai Lowenstein explained the company’s approach:

“Rather than simply remediating past findings, we’ve invested £1.5 million in player protection technology and better AML handling. This transformation goes far beyond compliance, it’s fundamentally changed how we understand and serve our customers.”

This is not the first time ProgressPlay has been in trouble. Back in May 2022, the company was ordered to pay £175,718 for similar AML and social responsibility shortcomings. The new penalty underscores the commission’s tougher stance on operators that repeat mistakes.

Along with the fine and formal warning, ProgressPlay must now undergo a third-party audit to prove it is applying its updated AML and responsible gambling policies effectively. The company actually claims to operate with a dedicated responsible gambling and AML team, backed by independent monitoring.

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