Following an investigation carried out by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC), the regulator has revealed that the operator licence for Triplebet was suspended after a number of ‘serious failings’ were identified.
The UKGC confirmed that it had found a number of failings relating to both social responsibility and anti-money laundering protocols, and emphasised that the suspension of the Triplebet licence, trading as Matchbook, would continue.
Gambling Commission chief executive Neil McArthur said: “We have repeatedly made it clear that operators must put player protection at the forefront of their activities and ensure that they have effective anti-money laundering processes in place.
“We will not hesitate to use our regulatory powers, including the suspension and revocation of licences, if we need to do that to protect consumers and the public from gambling related harm.
“Any operator that doubted that we were ready and willing to use the full range of our regulatory powers should think again. All operators need to learn the lessons from this case and our other enforcement cases.’’
An abundance of ‘serious failings’ in social responsibility procedures were highlighted in the UKGC investigation, which initially suspended the operator’s licence in February. Specifically, the organisation detailed that a player was able to gamble a significant sum of money over the course of two days without any interaction whatsoever.
Another player who self-excluded was subsequently able to reopen his account six months later, before playing for 10 hours a day on consecutive days and losing a large amount of money before self-excluding again, in spite of this no interaction took place between player and operator.
In addition to the suspension, which will remain in place until Triplebet can prove it has implemented the remedial measures required by the Commission, the operator will pay a £740,000 fine
A statement remains on the Matchbook website. It said: “Today the United Kingdom Gambling Commission has taken the decision to temporarily suspend the operating licence of Triplebet Limited (t/a Matchbook). As a result, from 23:59 on 17 February 2020 we will be briefly closed for all betting and casino activity in the United Kingdom.
“Matchbook has been in regular contact with the United Kingdom Gambling Commission and has agreed a path forward where it will deliver on a number of conditions. We will be back soon and we are committed to providing a betting exchange which adheres to very high standards.”
