The incidence of Suspicious Activity Reports from the UK’s National Crime Agency’s Financial Intelligence Unit that applied to gambling was up 50 per cent on 2017/18.
However, this still represented less than half a percentage point of the overall incidence of financial fraud and money-laundering. The annual report of the NCA said that Suspicious Activity Reports in the year totalled 2,154, but the sector covered included both gambling and leisure generally.
That number represented 0.46 per cent of the total, while credit institutions, led by banks at 80.08 per cent, took the lion’s share of the problems. Dealing specifically with gaming/leisure, the report broke down the statistics to show a volume of 2,154 SARs relating to gaming and leisure and 872 to bookmakers, with 742 on spread betting.
