Flutter Entertainment’s The Stars Group (TSG) Interactive has been hit with a warning and a fine of SEK7m (£542,572.30) for anti-money laundering failures in Sweden.
The Swedish gambling regulator, Spelinspektionen, said that for a number of customers it reviewed, TSG “did not take sufficient enhanced due diligence measures, despite customers showing unusually high levels of deposits or other risk indicators that should have triggered such actions.”
It noted how some customers had made deposits “far exceeding” the threshold of SEK424,514 (US$40,000) in net deposits over a rolling 365-day period, which, if breached, means the customer is subject to enhanced investigation.
Despite that, though, TSG did not document and verify the source of the funds.
In other cases, customers made large and frequent deposits in a short space of time, which Spelinspektionen noted could be an indication of money laundering.
However, TSG’s response was either “absent or insufficiently documented,” the regulator added.
The watchdog also said it was concerned that TSG only submitted suspicious activity reports (SARs) to the Financial Intelligence Unit after the authority began its probe.
This, Spelinspektionen said, “suggests that the company’s internal processes for identifying and reporting suspicious transactions may not have been effective.”
A TSG statement to Spelinspektionen said the company believes it acted appropriately in the cases identified and that the measures taken were proportional to the money laundering risk posed.
TSG added it is committed to co-operating with the regulator and maintaining full compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) legislation.
Spelinspektionen’s probe looked into the gambling activity of 10 customers throughout 2023.
Spelinspektionen has also handed out fines for anti-money laundering failings to Betsson Nordic, Betsson Group’s local subsidiary in Sweden, and Snabbare.
Betsson was fined SEK6.5m (£503.8m) and Snabbare was fined SEK5.5m (£426.4m).
