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  3. The 2023 money laundering and terrorist financing risks within the British gambling industry

Guidance

The 2023 money laundering and terrorist financing risks within the British gambling industry

The Gambling Commission's money laundering and terrorist financing risk assessment for the British gambling industry in 2023.

Published
30 November 2023

Last updated
30 November 2023 - Changes

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  1. Contents
  2. 4 - Regulatory framework

4 - Regulatory framework

Gambling operators must ensure they comply with the relevant legislation, and the regulatory licence conditions and codes of practice. These are:

Further information can be found within our anti-money laundering legislation page.

Operators are required to adopt a risk-based approach in the discharging of their legal obligations which focuses compliance effort where it is most needed and will therefore have the most impact. It requires the full commitment and support of senior management and the active co-operation all employees.

For further information regarding the steps gambling operators should take in applying a risk-based approach, please see our guidance on the prevention of money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism and our guidance on duties and responsibilities under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

Proliferation financing

In September 2022, the Regulations were updated to require businesses in the regulated sector to risk assess and mitigate proliferation financing. Proliferation financing is defined as:

"The act of providing funds or financial services for use (in whole or in part) in the manufacture, acquisition, development, export, trans-shipment, brokering, transport, transfer, stockpiling of, or otherwise in connection with the possession or use of chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons, including the provision of funds or financial services in connection with the means of delivery of such weapons and other Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN)-related goods and technology1, in contravention of a relevant financial sanctions obligation2."

For further information on what casinos are required to do in relation to proliferation financing, please refer to the updates of the Commission’s casino guidance.

Russian financial sanctions

For information on how to comply with sanctions regulation, including the UK government’s financial sanctions against Russia, please refer to the Commission’s update on sanctions.

References

1 The meaning of 'biological weapon', 'chemical weapon', 'CBRN-related goods and technology', 'nuclear weapon' and 'radiological weapon' are set out in regulation 16A(10).

2 A relevant financial sanctions obligation is a prohibition or requirement in regulations made under section 1 of the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 (opens in new tab) and imposed for one or more of the purposes in section 3(1) and (2) of the Act so far as it relates to compliance with a relevant United Nations (UN) obligation.

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2023 money laundering and risks - Methodology
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