Evolution, a prominent player in the live casino software industry, has announced that its license from the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) is currently under review due to allegations of unlicensed activities.
A brief document released by the Malta-based firm details the reasons behind the review and its possible implications.
As stated by Evolution, the UKGC has detected websites that provide Evolution’s casino games to players in the UK without the necessary authorization to operate in the region. While Evolution maintains valid licenses, the operation of these unauthorized sites constitutes a violation of online gambling regulations.
The review was initiated under Section 116 of the Gambling Act 2005. This clause enables the Commission to review, adjust, or revoke an active license if it suspects illegal activity.
The review may also stem from a recent amendment to the Gambling Act that specifically focused on the evaluation process for licensees.
Moreover, the Gambling Commission’s Chief Executive recently gave a speech highlighting the need to crack down on illegal gambling offers.
“We have seen significant change in the last few years in terms of overall compliance. In the past we often found an absence of policies being in place and, when they were, adherence to them was often poor and if interventions or interactions happened they were not necessarily meaningful. (…) We have been dedicating resources into areas we have been less able to focus on in the past. I have spoken to you before about the investment we have made in tackling illegal gambling and will come to this again, but we have also been recruiting people into our Compliance team to focus specifically on the statutory Fair and Open objective we have.”
The ongoing review could yield various outcomes for Evolution, as indicated in the aforementioned statement. These outcomes may include no action being required, conditions being imposed on the licence, financial sanction, suspension and revocation of the licence to operate.
Ultimately, a revocation of the license would severely limit UK-based players’ access to Evolution’s brands. Not only would live dealer games be affected, but so would Evo’s many acquired game studios such as NetEnt, NoLimit City, and Red Tiger.
That said, we suspect that Evolution won’t give up on the massive UK market that easily. After all, it’s one of the biggest markets in the gambling industry. Besides, a UKGC license is highly respected even outside Great Britain due to its transparent policies and relatively strict enforecement.
The BestCasinos.com team will keep monitoring the situation as new information becomes available.
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