Rank Group PLC has agreed to pay over £5 million ($6.6 million) following the Gambling Commission's findings of significant shortcomings in anti-money laundering (AML) and safer-gambling protocols at its three major land-based casino operations.
The settlement, which amounts to £5,012,261, involves Grosvenor Casinos Limited, Grosvenor Casinos (GC) Limited, and Gaming Group Limited. These entities collectively operate 51 casinos throughout Great Britain and will contribute to the government's consolidated fund.
In addition to the payment, the group will undergo a third-party audit to evaluate the implementation of its AML and social responsibility measures.
The Gambling Commission launched a licence review under Section 116 of the Gambling Act 2005 after receiving various reports and intelligence concerning these operators.
A specific compliance assessment was conducted in June 2025, the results of which indicated pervasive weaknesses in both AML procedures and responsible gambling practices.
The regulator pinpointed several inadequacies, notably the operators' failure to update their AML policies in accordance with the 2020 revisions to the UK Money Laundering Regulations. As a result, certain customers were not classified correctly as being at higher risk. Additionally, managerial discretion was sometimes exercised without clear guidelines, leading to insufficient verification of customer funds and sources of wealth.
The policies relating to cryptocurrency as a funding source were also found lacking. Staff accepted cryptocurrency as legitimate only after conversion to sterling without adequate checks on the origins.
Moreover, the operators often bypassed the enhanced due diligence processes mandated for certain customers—particularly students from high-risk areas or those with unusual funding sources.
On the safer-gambling front, the report highlighted that staff did not consistently engage customers exhibiting signs of gambling-related harm. One notable incident cited involved a customer who lost approximately £50,000 without a registered safer-gambling intervention. Another long-time customer won around £260,000 but lost £250,000 within a mere 12 days without any protective measures taken, and a returning customer lost £25,000 before any intervention occurred.
The regulator indicated that there was ineffective use of low-level interventions and delays in escalation actions, such as setting gambling limits or restricting debit-card payments. These failures constituted breaches of specific license conditions and codes intended for player safety.
Grosvenor Casinos acknowledged the findings and the settlement proposed by the Gambling Commission. Sue Young, the Commission's executive director of operations, pointed out that the enforcement action underscores the AML and safer-gambling risks present in land-based operations, paralleling those in online environments. She urged retailers to conduct thorough reviews of their compliance strategies.
In its 2026 risk assessment report, the regulator identified operator-side failures as a significant concern. The Commission also reported insufficient AML/CTF policies and poorly trained staff across various subsectors.
Rank Group's Grosvenor Casinos Licence faced scrutiny over compliance issues from 2024 to 2025, with the company disclosing in its 2025 earnings call plans for a £5 million provision to address the anticipated regulatory settlement. Rank Group indicated that it had swiftly enacted corrective measures and fully cooperated during the investigation, which the regulator acknowledged as mitigating factors in determining the resolution.
