Three Rank Group land-based casino operators — Grosvenor Casinos Limited, Grosvenor Casinos (GC) Limited and Gaming Group Limited — will pay £5,012,261 ($6.6 million) under a settlement with the UK Gambling Commission. The regulator found systemic failures in anti-money laundering compliance and player protection procedures across 51 casinos. The funds go to HM Treasury's consolidated fund.
Sue Young, the Commission's executive director, said AML risks and social responsibility failings affect the land-based sector as much as online. She called on other retail operators to audit their own procedures.
The investigation began in 2024 following intelligence reports. A targeted assessment in June 2025 revealed the operators had not updated AML policies to reflect changes in the UK's Money Laundering Regulations 2020. Customers were misclassified by risk level. Floor managers made decisions without clear guidance, and cryptocurrency as a source of funds was processed superficially: once converted to sterling it was accepted without origin checks. Enhanced due diligence was not applied even where the operators' own rules required it — for example, with students from high-risk jurisdictions.
Player protection failures were equally systemic. One customer lost around £50,000 ($66,000) without any intervention. Another won £260,000 ($343,200), then lost £250,000 ($330,000) over 12 days with no protective measures recorded. A third lost £25,000 ($33,000) before first contact with staff.
Rank Group admitted the breaches and confirmed it has taken corrective action. The company cooperated fully with the investigation, which the regulator factored into the settlement amount. The £5 million was provisioned in the 2025 accounts as a reserve. The operators agreed to a third-party audit to assess implementation of AML and safer-gambling policies.
