GB Regulator Finds “Serious Weaknesses” in Evolution’s AML Policies

The Gambling Commission has published details of its £4.75 million settlement with Evolution, stating there were serious weaknesses in the live casino supplier’s anti-money laundering policies and that the British regulator had considered suspending its license.

Last week, Evolution confirmed it had reached the settlement, as a result of its game content being found to have been offered in the UK without a license.

The license review was initiated by the Commission in December 2024, finding Evolution’s content was supplied illegally via two operators across six websites, breaching Evolution’s terms of supply. The operators evaded restrictions that were in place to block the content at the time.

Evolution said its commercial relationships with the two operators in question were terminated immediately upon discovery of the illegal activity. Evolution also mentioned no broader pattern of unlicensed access to Evolution content in the UK was identified during the 18-month review. Evolution had previously expected the review to be concluded by the end of 2025.

The Commission’s findings

In the Commission’s summary of events, it said there were large volumes of visits to the six websites in question by UK consumers between December 2023 and November 2024.

Evolution was found to have committed a number of licensing conditions breaches, including the failure to conduct money laundering and terrorist financing risk assessments, with those breaches taking place between April 2024 and January 2025.

Evolution was also found to have failed to ensure it had appropriate policies, procedures and controls to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing in that same time period.

A further breach was identified, with Evolution not being able to effectively ensure its games were not made available in the GB market by unlicensed operators, and not complying with customer due diligence requirements.

The eventual outcome of the review is not as damaging to Evolution as it could have been. Evolution had previously mentioned the review could lead to a number of outcomes, which included conditions being imposed on the license, financial sanction, suspension and revocation of the license to operate.

License suspension considered

John Pierce, the Commission’s Director of Enforcement, said:

“This case exposed serious weaknesses in Evolution's anti-money laundering risk assessment and its oversight of risks within its supply chain. The company's AML risk assessment was outdated and failed to adequately consider the risk of its games being made available through unlicensed operators.

“As a result, there was a significant gap between the controls on paper and their effectiveness in practice. The Commission's investigation and testing uncovered failings that were serious enough for us to consider license suspension.

"This case provides an important lesson for the industry. Operators must ensure their risk assessments are current, regularly tested and reflective of real-world risks.”

Other settlement terms

Aside from the £4.75 million payment in lieu of a financial penalty, the settlement consisted of a number of other terms. These included Evolution agreeing to an independent audit of its policies, procedures and controls within 12 months of the conclusion of the license review. Evolution also agreed to pay the Commission’s costs of investigating the case.

Some mitigation factors were taken into account by the Commission ahead of the settlement. Evolution was found to have swiftly put in place an action plan designed to remedy the failings and provided updates, while also fully co-operating with the investigation, providing information by agreed deadlines.