On 7 June 2023, the Gambling Commission published a further revision of the fifth edition of the prevention of money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism guidance (the “AML Guidance”), applicable to both remote and non-remote casino licensees (“Licensees”).

The purpose of the updates to the AML Guidance is to incorporate and address proliferation financing which is defined by the Gambling Commission in the Glossary of terms section (Annex) of the AML Guidance 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 technology, in contravention of a relevant financial sanctions obligation.”

The Gambling Commission directs Licensees to review the latest version of the AML Guidance and “to ensure that these changes are incorporated in their risk assessments, policies, procedures and controls, their processes and in their training.”

Updates in the AML Guidance

The updates in the AML Guidance include that Licensees:

• conduct a risk assessment to identify and assess the risks of proliferation financing associated with their business, and implement and maintain policies, procedures and controls to mitigate and manage those risks. Licensees will therefore need to review and update their money laundering (“ML”) and terrorist financing (“TF”) risk assessment and their policies, procedures and controls immediately;
• implement staff training in relation to proliferation financing, in addition to ML and TF training. Licensees must therefore ensure staff training is updated and implemented accordingly;
• ensure their nominated officer is involved in establishing the basis on which a risk-based approach to the prevention of ML, TF and proliferation financing is put into practice;
• ensure that anyone working for them to whom information or other matter comes in the course of business as a result of which they know or suspect, or have reasonable grounds for knowing or suspecting, that a person is engaged in ML, TF or proliferation financing, makes an internal report to their nominated officer; and
• manage and mitigate the risks in any business relationship with a customer situated in a high-risk third country or, where Licensees are required to apply customer due diligence measures, where either of the parties to the transaction is a resident in a high-risk third country. This should form part of Licensees’ review of their ML and TF risk assessment and their policies and procedures.

Next steps

Licensees should review and make the required changes immediately. Please get in touch with us if you would like assistance with the required changes, or with any other compliance matters.