According to reports, four gambling businesses are set to be hit with a mouth-watering £4.5m in penalty packages as part of the Gambling Commission’s ongoing investigation into the online casino sector.

InTouch Games Limited will a whooping £2.2m, with Betit Operations Limited slapped with £1.4m, and MT Secure Trade will pay £700,000 in lieu of financial penalties, while BestBet will pay a fine of £230,972.

These four gambling businesses mentioned above are said to have failed in putting in place effective safeguards to prevent money laundering and keep consumers safe from gambling harm.

The penalty packages, according to reports, form part of an ongoing investigation into the online casino sector with reports that over the last 18 months, the regulator has conducted assessments of 123 online casino operators.

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Amongst the 123 sections, 45 firms have reportedly been told to submit an action plan to raise standards while 38 casino sectors have already showed signs of improvement.

Additionally, a further 34 firms are said to have work in compliant with standards laid out by the Commission or had minor issues which have been, or are in the process of being, remedied.

Since this investigation began, five operators have reportedly seen their license quash and can no longer transact with their consumers across Britain.

As of November 2018, the Gambling Commission reckons three companies paid nearly £14m in penalty packages as a result of putting in place effective safeguards to prevent casino players from money laundering and keep consumers safe from gambling-related harm.

Richard Watson, Gambling Commission Executive Director, said:

“We have been working hard to raise standards in the online industry to ensure that gambling is crime-free and that the one in five people in Britain who gamble online every month can do so safely.

“But our work will not stop here. As a regulator, we will continue to set and enforce standards that the industry must comply with to protect consumers.

“We expect operators to know their customers and to ask the right questions to make sure they meet their anti-money laundering and social responsibility obligations.”

It all remains too been seen whether a new firm will be penalized in the coming weeks and how the penalty involving InTouch Games Limited, Betit Operations Limited, MT Secure Trade and BestBet will pan out.