L&L Europe Agrees £900K UKGC Settlement Over Withdrawal Delays and AML Failures

Online casino operator L&L Europe has agreed to pay £900,000 ($1.2 million) after a United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) investigation uncovered unfair withdrawal practices, as well as other anti-money laundering and player protection failures.

The UKGC found that L&L Europe, which operates seven brands in the UK, unnecessarily delayed customer withdrawals through unfair terms and conditions and additional verification checks.

This included limiting customers to only one withdrawal request at a time. Players could not submit another until the operator had authorized the previous request.

The Commission ruled that the restriction was unfair under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

L&L Europe also manually reviewed every fifth or tenth withdrawal for certain customers, with the checks sometimes asking for additional documents that could have been requested originally.

The company acknowledged that the process delayed withdrawals. It said it has since amended its procedures.

Sue Young, the UKGC’s executive director of operations, said that customers should not face unnecessary obstacles when trying to access their funds.

“As a regulator we expect consumers to be treated fairly. A basic expectation is that when you have winnings you can withdraw those swiftly without hindrance from unfair terms and conditions or the operator failing to carry out checks at an earlier stage. That is essential to consumer trust,” she said.

“There may be occasions where a gambling business can ask consumers for information at withdrawal to fulfil legal obligations, but this was not the case here.”

Young Customers Lost Thousands as Safeguards Failed

The investigation also uncovered failures in L&L Europe’s anti-money laundering and social responsibility controls between October 2024 and October 2025.

The UKGC found that the operator relied too heavily on financial thresholds rather than the individual risk profile of each user.

Its safer gambling monitoring systems also failed to identify potentially harmful behavior across all seven of its websites.

In one case, a customer recorded 84 failed deposits within seven days because of insufficient funds. The system failed to identify the potential gambling harm.

In two other cases, a 21-year-old and an 18-year-old quickly lost thousands of pounds but were not flagged as high-risk customers.

The UKGC also found that some customers did not receive interventions despite reaching financial thresholds intended to trigger contact from the operator. One customer reached a threshold on their first day but did not receive a call until two weeks later.

Regulator Warns Industry Over Withdrawal Practices

As well as issues around withdrawals, the UKGC identified shortcomings in L&L Europe’s anti-money laundering procedures.

One customer deposited £4,400 ($5,900) within eight hours of opening an account. The operator accepted funds from a recently opened bank account without adequately verifying their origin.

The customer subsequently provided an incorrect address twice, but this did not raise suspicion.

L&L Europe has accepted the regulatory findings and agreed to make a £900,000 payment in lieu of a financial penalty. It will also contribute toward the UKGC’s investigation costs.

The payment accounted for the fact that L&L Europe cooperated with the investigation, accepted its failings early, and introduced measures to correct the issues.

However, Young warned that the UKGC would continue to scrutinize unfair withdrawal practices.

“We hope this case sends a clear reminder to the industry that, although much of our enforcement action frequently relates to anti-money laundering and social responsibility failings, we will not hesitate to act when we see incidents of gambling not being fair and open,” she said.

The action follows a heavier, £4.75 million (US$6.42 million) settlement agreed between the UKGC and supplier Evolution in July, after a review found Evolution’s games were accessible to British gamblers through unlicensed websites.