Buzz Bingo, more like buzzkill: UKGC’s latest casualty

UKGC strikes again

Operators cannot say they weren’t warned. Last week, Gambling Commission’s interim chief executive, Andrew Rhodes, informed operators that they would take strong action against licensees that fail to live up to its standards. This new fine comes a week after the Commission released its annual report, where operators were criticised for insufficient AML and social responsibility checks.

What happened?

It feels like only yesterday we announced that Greentube was brutally, but fairly sanctioned by the UKGC. Today, it seems that Buzz Bingo (owned by Buzz Group Limited, previously held by Caledonia Investments) is next in line to pay a £780,000 fine.

From a responsible gambling perspective `one customer was able to deposit £22,400 in five days without the operator conducting a meaningful interaction within that period`. Another customer lost £12,400 during a six-day period, but the casino simply recorded that the customer was ‘coping well in COVID-19’. Social responsibility is a topic which is constantly reviewed and brought up by the Commission. Casumo failed, and so did Greentube. Even White Hat Gaming and A&S Leisure Group took the same risky and assumed approach across their multiple casinos. And now: Buzz Bingo.

Two customers won large amounts of money gambling, yet the operator failed to consider the increased risk of gambling harm to those customers despite the customers displaying high levels of spend.

From an outsider’s perspective, UKGC is acting correctly and ethically and it makes the most sense for casinos to establish a Responsible Gaming department. Email those players who seem to lose control of their gaming session and finances, if the player ignores the email, call. If they ignore the call, block their account until further checks pan out. The elephant in the room? If all casinos would apply this process, a great percentage would go bankrupt. So, how do you balance social care, paperwork, and business? We guess that, at the end of the day, these sanctions are – literally – the price the operators pay to carry on with their businesses. Their own `little` gamble.

What’s next for Buzz Bingo?

In addition to the fine, the Commission also issued a warning. But, it seems the company is doing fine, great in fact. The COO of Buzz Bingo, Dominic Mansour, declared that the casino “has reviewed and overhauled all its compliance measures and is confident that current policies and processes now meet the standards set. Moreover, Buzz Bingo has increased its current and ongoing investment to enhance all its risk and compliance processes to continually improve player protection.”

That was fast. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see the next UKGC’s report on the Buzz premises.

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