Betsson Nordic Ltd has been issued a warning and a significant fine of SEK 6.5 million ($682,272) for deficiencies in its Anti-Money Laundering (AML) measures in Sweden.
The Swedish Gambling Authority, Spelinspektionen, began monitoring Betsson on May 2, 2024. This oversight mainly focused on transactions and activities during 2023, and involved a detailed review of 10 customers chosen from a group of the top 50 customers aged 18 to 29 who made the largest total deposits.
Spelinspektionen requested detailed customer cards and transaction histories for these 10 players. Among these, they found that only two cases were free from deficiencies. For the other eight, one notable example was a customer who made 163 deposits totaling SEK 491,950 ($51,550) between September 19 and December 30, 2023, despite having a net annual income of just SEK 310,000 ($32,500). Remarkably, this player’s risk level was only gauged as low to medium.
The regulator criticized Betsson for justifying deposits exceeding the incomes of players by referencing their previous withdrawals of winnings from betting. Spelinspektionen stated, “The deficiencies are both serious and systematic. Given the company’s financial standing, the sanction fee has been set at SEK 6.5 million.” They further added that this sanction fee is proportionate to the severity of the violation.
**Snabbare and Flutter’s TSG also fined for AML mishaps**
Snabbare Ltd and The Stars Group (TSG) Interactive, owned by Flutter Entertainment, were also admonished and fined by Spelinspektionen for AML deficiencies in Sweden. TSG Interactive received a fine of SEK 7 million, and Snabbare was subjected to a sanction fee of SEK 5.5 million.
TSG allowed several customers to exceed net deposits of SEK 424,514 in a 365-day period without triggering the necessary enhanced customer due diligence and source of funds checks. Spelinspektionen noted, “TSG’s customer due diligence regarding the audited customers has been insufficient. TSG did not implement adequate enhanced customer due diligence measures in a timely manner, failing to assess the risk of exposure to money laundering adequately.”
Regarding Snabbare, the regulator reprimanded the company for accepting deposits above annual incomes and determined that its customer knowledge was insufficient, stating that delayed actions increased the risk that Snabbare might be exploited for money laundering.
Spelinspektionen described these violations as “serious and systematic,” culminating in total fines amounting to SEK 19 million.
**Busy period for Spelinspektionen**
Recently, Spelinspektionen fined several charity and political organizations operating lotteries for failing to manage contractors effectively and for marketing breaches. They imposed a fine of SEK 3 million on the Swedish Social Democratic Workers’ Party, the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League, and the Swedish Social Democratic Women’s League.
Earlier in May, Kindred’s subsidiary Spooniker was fined SEK 10 million for AML breaches, and Videoslots received a sanction fee of SEK 12 million in April due to failures in addressing excessive gambling.
2025 continues to be a particularly active year for Spelinspektionen, with Betsson being one of the three operators penalized for AML shortcomings.