Spelinspektionen, Sweden’s gaming regulator, has issued over SEK19m (£1.5m) in penalty fees to three operators for AML shortcomings.
TSG Interactive PLC, the Flutter Entertainment-owned operator of Pokerstars, was hit with the biggest fee, SEK7m, while Betsson Nordic Ltd and Snabbare Ltd were issued penalties of SEK6.5m and SEK5.5m, respectively.
The Swedish regulator used the same wording for all three notices, claiming that the operators had failed to carry out adequate due diligence related to AML.
For each case, it stated: “The company has not collected sufficient information about where the money comes from.
“Therefore, they have not been able to understand and assess whether the customers’ activities and transactions have been legitimate or whether they have entailed a risk of money laundering.”
The fines follow inspections of the three operators in May 2024 relating to their compliance with Sweden’s Anti-Money Laundering Act.
The regulator found that several Snabbare customers were able to make deposits totalling SEK1m without substantial checks.
For Betsson and TSG Interactive, the regulator uncovered examples of high deposits which were not checked for the source of funds. The operators claimed that they were not necessary because the source of funds was the customers’ recent winnings.
In both cases, the SGA states that withdrawn winnings do not verify new deposits, and further checks should have been undertaken.
In response, Betsson argued its actions were taken within accepted regulatory discretion, and that players often re-deposited winnings, with related metrics providing a reasonable basis for risk-based evaluation.
TSG also asserted that professional players reinvesting winnings is an accepted norm. However, the operator did commit to enhancing its AML processes, including the introduction of new age-based risk assessment rules for players and improved verifications of taxable income at set points in the player relationship.
Meanwhile, Snabbare acknowledged flaws in its AML processes and committed to implementing lower thresholds for AML alerts for players aged 24 or under, accepting re-deposited winnings within a defined limit of up to two months and new automatic alerts tied to high deposit limits.
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