The Swedish Gaming Authority has penalised three online operators for breaches of anti-money laundering (AML) regulations.
The fines follow inspections in May 2024 at TSG Interactive (PokerStars), Betsson Nordics and Snabbare to assess their compliance with Sweden’s Anti-Money Laundering Act.
The investigation saw the Swedish gambling regulator, Spelinspektionen, select 10 customers from a list of 50 who had the largest total deposits in 2023.
After examining their transaction history, the regulator found that several Snabbare customers were able to make large deposits totalling SEK1 million (approx. €92,000) without any substantial checks into their source of funds.
In relation to Betsson and TSG Interactive, the regulator found instances of high deposits which were not accompanied by additional source of funds checks, which the operators said were not necessary because the source of the funds were the customers’ recent winnings.
In both cases, the regulator stated that winnings that have been withdrawn from a gambling account do not, in themselves, verify new deposits, and without further checks, the operator cannot determine where the money has come from.
In all three investigations, the regulator concluded that each operator did not collect sufficient information about each player’s source of funds.
This meant that the operators could not fully understand and assess whether the customers’ activities and transactions were legitimate or whether they posed a risk of money laundering, said the regulator.
Alongside warnings, TSG Interactive received a fine of SEK7 million, Betsson a fine of SEK 6.5 million, and Snabbare SEK 5.5 million.
The regulator noted that on 1 June 2024, the calculation process for penalty fees was changed to increase the maximum fines. However, as the AML violations occurred prior this the date, the old formula has been used.