Gaming regulator pondered on suspending British gambling company, William Hill’s licence, but slapped them with a record £19,2m fine.

Three gambling businesses owned by the company will pay the sum for “widespread and alarming” social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures, the Gambling commission said.

The entities who will pay the fines will be WHG ( International) Limited, which runs williamhill.com and will pay £12.5m; Mr Green Limited, which runs mrgreen.com, will pay £3.7m; and William Hill Organisation Limited, which operates 1, 344 gambling premises across Britain and will pay £3m.

Pandemic or not, the parent company 888 reported  a £1.85bn in revenue for the year up to the end of December 2022, while company profits for the year will be published in April.

Previously in 2018, a £6.2m fine was issuyed by the regulator for similar issues: systemic social responsibility and money laundering failures. It seems they have learnt from previous alarming failures of social responsibility and anti-money laundering.

Failures identified by the regulator included allowing a customer to open a new account and spend £23, 000 in 20 minutes all without any formal checks and allowing a different customer to open an account and spend £18, 000 in 24 hours.

A recovering gambling addict James Grimes who  started gambling at the age of 16 with a £5 bet on a football match, has ruined his life is calling for a ban on advertising for online betting companies, like tobacco adverts. He said that in his late teens he was glamourised and brainwashed by his idols in football and that adverts for betting were everywhere.