Breach of licensing conditions suspected

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has suspended Genesis Global Limited’s UK operating license with immediate effect. The UK commercial gambling regulator announced the suspension Monday, pending the conclusion of an investigation into a suspected licensing conditions breach.

Section 116(2)(a) of the Gambling Act 2005 permits the UKGC to review suspected activity not in accordance with licensing conditions. While citing a “number of compliance issues,” the UKGC said the suspected breach makes Genesis Global

unsuitable to carry on the licensed activities.”

Suspension targets 12 websites

Effective July 20, the ruling deems it illegal for Genesis Global to offer UK-based customers gambling services on 12 websites. Named sites on the UKGC’s hit list are casinocruise.com, casinogods.com, casinojoy.com, casinoplanet.com, casoola.com, genesiscasino.com, kassu.com, pelaa.com, sloty.com, spela.com, spinit.com, and vegashero.com.

advise customers not to place any bets”

In a release published on its website, the UKGC said it had “instructed the operator to facilitate customers accessing their accounts to withdraw funds and advise customers not to place any bets.”

“Toothless” body bites back

Despite the UKGC launching a string of recent license suspensions, it has drawn heavy fire from the UK government. In a parliamentary report published last month, the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee was heavily critical of the regulatory body.

Meg Hillier MP, chair of the committee, named the UKGC “a torpid, toothless regulator that doesn’t seem terribly interested in either the harms it exists to reduce or the means it might use to achieve that.”

Calling for a radical overhaul of the UKGC, Hillier also said it needed to be “quicker at responding to problems, update company licence conditions to protect vulnerable consumers and beef up those consumers’ rights to redress when it fails.”

While it’s now illegal for Genesis Global to offer gambling services to UK-based customers through the 12 blacklisted websites, the Malta-based entity holds a license issued by the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA), so its operations in other European countries will continue unaffected.