UK Gambling Commission considered suspending Evolution’s licence after AML failings and black market distribution

The UK Gambling Commission said it came close to suspending Evolution’s licence after finding that the supplier’s live casino games were being offered on unlicensed websites accessible to UK consumers. For PSPs and other payment providers in high-risk verticals, the key point is straightforward: weak supply-chain controls and stale AML checks can turn a licensed content provider into an exposure point for the whole distribution chain.

1. The commission’s investigation found that Evolution had not maintained adequate anti-money laundering (AML) and customer due diligence controls in the UK. John Pierce, the regulator’s director of enforcement, said the case exposed “serious weaknesses” in Evolution’s AML risk assessment and in its oversight of risks within its supply chain.
2. According to the regulator, Evolution’s AML assessment was outdated and failed to account properly for the risk created by unlicensed operators distributing its games. That left “a significant gap between documented controls and their real-world effectiveness,” which is the kind of phrase compliance teams tend to read twice.
3. The investigation was opened in December 2024 after the Gambling Commission found Evolution’s games were being supplied to unlicensed operators in the UK. The commission said it first noticed the games operating without proper authorisation in August 2024 and formally informed Evolution in December 2024.
4. Last week, Evolution said the commission had identified its titles on six unlicensed sites run by two third-party operators between December 2023 and November 2024. Evolution acknowledged that the games were legitimate and promptly blocked access for UK customers on the affected sites.
5. The regulator also found breaches of licence conditions, including failures linked to the 2017 Money Laundering Regulations, Licence Conditions 12.1.1(1-3), and 12.1.2. Evolution’s risk assessments between April 2024 and January 2025 were judged inappropriate, especially on third-party risk evaluation, and the company failed to identify that two operators were supplying games into the UK without the required Gambling Commission licences.

Pierce said the investigation and testing uncovered failings “serious enough for us to consider licence suspension,” but the commission did not enforce that step because of Evolution’s “swift” response. Evolution later said it carried out extensive ring-fencing efforts across its European operations in 2025 so its games could no longer be provided via unlicensed operators.