Well. I got a response from the Gambling Commission. Essentially, they don't care about how Casumo handled this Source Of Wealth mess. See below. (Any bold text is added by me.)
Essentially, they seem to have ignored my concerns that they only ask for SOW at the point of withdrawal rather than deposit, and the fact that they invite users to continue to deposit when they may choose not to pay out if they're ultimately not happy with your docs is irrelevant to any responsible operating issues.
Which must be a relief to any shithouse operators out there.
Thank you for contacting the Gambling Commission again about Casumo operating under the licence of Casumo Services Limited on 22 July 2020.
You originally contacted us on 7 July 2020. My colleague redacted responded to you on 22 July. You have since come back and advised you have now been verified and received your money. However, you have come back saying that your concerns are not that you had to supply the documents but that they won’t process any withdrawals until these documents are provided. You attached evidence of this. You are also concerned that a player is still able to deposit even though they won’t pay out. I note however from their attachment that they do say that if they don’t receive the documents, they would need to suspend your account. This of course would then prevent you from being able to deposit and gamble. You are also concerned at the excessive time it takes them to review documents once you have submitted them. You also refer to the issue being widespread for players based in Great Britain by checking sources such as Twitter and TrustPilot. You believe therefore they are doing all this mainly to delay processing withdrawals rather than because of any genuine concerns over source of wealth.
Firstly, as previously advised, I must advise you we are a Regulator not an Ombudsman. This means we cannot get involved in individual customer disputes as it is not within our legal powers to do so.
I can advise however that all gambling operators are required to carry out checks such as affordability (i.e. can a customer afford what they are gambling with). They should also verify the source of those funds to ensure they have not come from the source of crime. This is so they can comply with anti-money laundering legislation. As part of these checks they may also ask for documents to confirm your name, address and date of birth. The law does not state at what point they should do these checks however. It is not uncommon therefore for gambling operators to sometimes do these at the time a customer tries to withdraw funds.
Gambling websites may therefore also ask for sight of the cards used to deposit. This is to ensure the person who has the Account with them is also the legal owner of the funds in the bank account making the deposits and who they should pay any monies to. They can also ask for Bank Statements (with no information blanked out). They may also ask for wage slips (or proof of pension, benefits payments, tax returns), proof of inheritances, proof of house and car sales, proof of savings / investments etc. In addition, if a customer’s bank statement shows funds going into their account from others, they may also want to see that other person’s financial documents also. This is to check that their funds have not come from the source of crime.
They are quite entitled to ask for documents and you would have agreed to this when you signed up and ticked that you had read and agreed to their Terms and Conditions. The legislation does not require them to do these checks before first allowing someone to deposit and gamble. It would be responsible for them to do so however if someone is trying to deposit and gamble large amounts of money straight away. The legislation also does not tell gambling operators what documents they can and cannot accept. It is therefore up to each operator to make their own business decision as to what documents they will and will not accept. We would however expect their requests to be reasonable. We would also expect that customers are not subjected to excessive delays after providing what has been asked for.
You should be able to find details of the documents that an operator may request within the Terms and Conditions on their website.
If you cannot provide the documents requested by the operator, they may freeze/suspend your account until you can supply what they have asked for.
If they are still allowing you to make further deposits and gamble in the meantime however, then there should be no reason for them to delay your withdrawal. This is because if they are happy to continue taking money from you and letting you gamble, despite asking for documents, then they cannot also say they are concerned about your name, address, date of birth, affordability or source of funds.
If therefore you still have concerns about any of the issues you raise, then you will again need to raise this with them in accordance with their formal complaints process and see what response you get to the points raised. You can find their complaints process in their Terms and Conditions on their website.
If you are not happy with their final decision, you can contact their chosenYou do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.(ADR). This is an impartial adjudication service which is free of charge. You can find details of the nominated ADR in the complaints process. The ADR will ask you to exhaust the complaints process before taking your complaint to them. They may ask for a “deadlock” letter as evidence of this.
However, if after you have gone through the complaints process, you remain unsatisfied with the outcome of your complaint, then you can provide us with copies of all the formal complaint correspondence you had with them. This should include their final response with the outcome of your complaint. All you will receive from us though is an acknowledgement.
Our regulatory role is to look at potential licence breaches, so we will then look to see if they have failed in the terms of their licence objectives with us. Further information about our regulatory process can be foundYou do not have permission to view link Log in or register now..
If an investigation does take place, it would not be based on any individual consumer’s complaint/s. Our investigations are based on the complaints received by all consumers collectively and on information from various other sources. From this, we identify trends in relation to complaints that we have received. Where we have multiple complaints and information from other sources about the same issues or in relation to the same operator, this may result in an investigation taking place. Our investigations are purely regulatory and concentrate on an operator’s internal processes. They do not take place to get money back for customers. As a result, we are not able to provide consumers with any information as regards any investigations that may be taking place. However, any action we take against any company licensed by us will be shown against them on our Public Register in due course.
Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. We have made a record of your complaint against the gambling business. We cannot become involved in your complaint, but this information helps us in our ongoing work to drive up standards within the gambling industry.
Essentially, they seem to have ignored my concerns that they only ask for SOW at the point of withdrawal rather than deposit, and the fact that they invite users to continue to deposit when they may choose not to pay out if they're ultimately not happy with your docs is irrelevant to any responsible operating issues.
Which must be a relief to any shithouse operators out there.