Betsson Nordic Ltd has received a warning and a substantial fine of SEK6.5 million ($682,272) for failing to effectively manage anti-money laundering (AML) processes in Sweden.
The Swedish Gambling Authority, Spelinspektionen, initiated its oversight of Betsson on May 2, 2024, with a primary focus on scrutinizing transactions and customer activities from the year 2023. The authority conducted a detailed review involving 10 customers, these individuals were selected based on their deposit size and belonged to the age group of 18 to 29 among the top 50 customers.
Betsson was instructed to present customer profiles and transaction histories for these 10 players. Findings revealed that only two customers had satisfactory records, while deficiencies were found in the rest. A particular case highlighted a customer who made 163 deposits amounting to SEK491,950 between September 19 and December 30, 2023, despite having an annual net income of SEK310,000. The risk assessment for this player was inaccurately set at low to medium.
Spelinspektionen criticized Betsson’s rationale wherein deposits exceeding the players’ incomes were justified by their prior withdrawals of winnings, describing these deficiencies as “both serious and systematic.” Considering Betsson’s financial position and the severity of the violations, a penalty of SEK6.5 million was deemed appropriate by the authority.
**Snabbare and Flutter’s TSG also fined for AML mishaps**
In related actions, Snabbare Ltd and The Stars Group (TSG) Interactive, subsidiaries of Flutter Entertainment, were also penalized and warned for their AML shortcomings in Sweden. TSG Interactive faced a SEK7 million fine, while Snabbare was fined SEK5.5 million.
Issues at TSG included multiple customers exceeding net deposit limits of SEK424,514 over a 365-day span without the initiation of necessary enhanced customer due diligence or verification of the source of funds. This led to inadequacies in Spelinspektionen’s ability to properly evaluate potential money laundering risks due to TSG’s poorly timed and lacking customer due diligence measures.
Snabbare was reprimanded for accepting deposits that were disproportionate to players’ annual incomes, with Spelinspektionen noting an insufficient knowledge of its customers and delayed actions, thereby heightening the risk of being exploited for money laundering activities.
The authority described the shortcomings of all three companies as “serious and systematic,” resulting in fines totaling SEK19 million.
**Busy period for Spelinspektionen**
Spelinspektionen has been vigorously enforcing regulations, recently imposing fines on several charity and political organizations that manage lotteries for not maintaining proper control over contractors and committing marketing violations. The fined entities included the Swedish Social Democratic Workers’ Party, the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League, and the Swedish Social Democratic Women’s League, collectively incurring SEK3 million in penalties.
Earlier this year, Spelinspektionen levied fines due to AML failures on Kindred’s subsidiary Spooniker for SEK10 million and on Videoslots, which incurred a SEK12 million fine in April due to its failure to mitigate excessive gambling. Betsson joins the ranks of those recently disciplined for AML deficiencies in a particularly active 2025 for Spelinspektionen.