Gambling firm Spreadex has been fined £2 million for money laundering and social responsibility failings, the regulator said.
The online firm failed to carry out appropriate checks on a customer who hit a daily deposit limit of £3,340 on 12 occasions over 14 days, the Gambling Commission said.
Despite the high spending over a short period, Spreadex’s social responsibility interactions consisted of four pop-up messages without any human interaction.
Anti-money laundering failures included failing to ask for “source of funds” information from a customer who deposited around £64,000 into the business within a short period.
The customer went on to lose £50,000 within one month.
Spreadex Limited – which operates from Spreadex.com – will pay a £2,022,000 penalty for the failings, which happened between September 2022 and November 2023, and also have to undergo a third-party audit.
It is the second enforcement action against Spreadex after it paid a £1.36 million regulatory settlement in 2022, again for social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures.
The Gambling Commission’s head of enforcement John Pierce said: “The conclusion of this case marks the second time Spreadex Limited has been subject to enforcement action.
“Its failure to uphold anti-money laundering standards, delays in necessary interventions, and weaknesses in social responsibility measures were unacceptable.
Spreadex Limited to pay £2 million for social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures.
— Gambling Commission (@GamRegGB) May 15, 2025
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“The operator placed undue reliance on customer assurances about the source of funds, rather than obtaining evidence from independent and verifiable sources, as we would expect. Operators must not only implement and maintain robust anti-money laundering policies, procedures, and controls, but also act swiftly in response to any indicators of suspicious activity.
“During the review, it was found that one customer, showing markers of harm, was using products across areas overseen by two different regulators. As the gambling regulator, we stress the importance of licensees understanding and managing cross-channel usage in their anti-money laundering and social responsibility policies.”
He added: “Operators should be in no doubt: repeated regulatory failings will result in escalating enforcement action.”
