The Swedish Gambling Authority has issued a warning and an SEK2m (£154,000) sanction to Svenska Spel subsidiary Casino Cosmopol for anti-money laundering and terrorist financing failures.
The penalty is the result of an investigation Spelinspektionen began in November 2021 over the land-based property’s practices and processes for AML and player protection practices.
The regulator’s probe focused in on eight customers’ gaming habits including their spending and winnings, as well as how Casino Cosmopol interacted with the customers and their associated risk of money laundering or terrorist financing.
Spelinspektionen said that while the operator took actions to verify the origin of funds, it only took action “after noting that the respective customer has incurred a high gambling loss, or alternatively, after observing that the customer has a positive result and, for that reason, deemed that further actions are not necessary.”
“Customers have thus been able to carry out transactions amounting to significant sums before Casino Cosmopol took measures to verify the origin of funds,” the regulator’s report on its decision said.
Spelinspektion said the “mere fact” that a customer purchases gaming funds, such as casino chips, for “significant amounts” can pose a money laundering risk.
“It is problematic that measures to control the origin of funds are taken only when the customer has incurred substantial losses,” the report added.
Svenska Spel accepts criticism
In a statement, Svenska Spel said it “accepts the criticism” from the Swedish Gambling Authority but noted that the regulator’s report said the operator had “implemented a number of improvement measures that had the intended effect.”
Casino Cosmopol CEO Ola Enquist said: “We have a high ambition for our work and have implemented new comprehensive tools and routines, which greatly improved and developed our work against money laundering.
“We take on board the criticism that the Gambling Inspectorate puts forward and to the extent that the shortcomings have not already been remedied, we will take care of them.”
Discrepancies in spending
Two customers gambled more than they stated they would in their documentation on their visits, the report found.
One of those customers spent SEK89,000 (£6,858) on gaming funds for one visit despite stating an intention to gamble for less than SEK5,000 (£385.31).
Another customer, Spelinspektionen’s report said, stated plans to gamble between SEK15,000 (£1,155.94) and SEK30,000 (£2,311.88) on each visit before purchasing gaming funds worth over SEK100,000 (£7,706.41) on each visit.
Spelinspektionen said of the two instances: “One explanation for a customer purchasing gaming funds for a higher amount during the same visit than what they have stated could be that the customer is buying gaming funds for winnings that were cashed out during the visit, as argued by Casino Cosmopol.
“However, it is not evident from the customer records whether Casino Cosmopol has considered this possibility. Therefore, customers must be considered to have gambled in a manner that deviates from the expected gambling pattern.”
