Sunderland's main shirt sponsor Spreadex is to pay £1.36m as part of a settlement with the Gambling Commission after an investigation revealed 'social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures'. The St Albans-based company announced a three-year deal at the end of June as the Black Cats' prinicipal partner, with the club's home and away shirts set to bear their branding until the summer of 2025, along with pitchside advertising and a presence on the club's digital media channels.
But Spreadex Limited has been the subject of a Gambling Commission - the government agency which regulates gambling and gaming - investigation which revealed a number of failings on the company's part.
The company's social responsibility failings included having financial alerts which were ineffective and allowed customers to lose significant amounts over a short period of time; placing an overreliance on financial alerts to identify customers at potential risk of experiencing harms; not sufficiently recording and evaluating its customer interactions; one customer was able to deposit £1.7 million and lose £500,000 during the course of a one month period – although customer interactions had taken place they had not been sufficiently evaluated, and did not include considering the effectiveness of restricting the account.
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It's anti-money laundering failures included a customer who met a £25,000 financial deposit alert had the alert for further review increased to £100,000 based on a self-declaration of income and an open-source check; a customer was able to deposit £365,000 and lose £284,000 over a period of three months without source of funds being sufficiently established; and a customer was able to continue depositing after providing redacted bank statements in response to a request for evidence of source of funds.
And the Commission today annnounced that Spreadex will pay £1.36m to 'socially responsible causes' as part of a settlement. Gambling Commission director of enforcement and intelligence Leanne Oxley said: "Whilst it is disappointing to see anti-money laundering and social responsibility breaches occur despite our extensive published cases highlighting similar failures, we note the swift and robust action the licensee took to bring itself back to compliance.
"We expect similar commitment and engagement across the gambling sector."
The full Gambling Commission public statement can be read here.
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