Gambling-Regulator Sweden Requires An Increase In Money Laundering Fines

At the end of the year, the gambling regulator of sweden seeks to find an opportunity to increase the size of fines imposed on the gembling operators for violating the rules to counter money laundering (aml).

Representatives of the swedish gambling regulator – spelinspektionen – they stated that they sent a request to the ministry of finance with a proposal to revise the rules regarding the maximum amount of fines imposed on operators in connection with money laundering. Currently, a penalty for such a kind of violation is €1 million.

According to representatives of the controlling agency, the amount of the fine does not allow to conduct an effective, proportional and deterrent policy in relation to violators.

The position of the regulator is explained by the fact that, according to the latest data, large online gambling operators are disposed of cash in the amount of hundreds of millions of euros, while the fine in €1 million looks insignificant. Data are based on the monitoring of the company’s turnover for the first nine months of the current year.

The regulator made a proposal to equate disorders related to money laundering, to violating the law on gambling. Thus, the maximum amount of sanction will be 10% of the turnover of the licensee for the past fiscal year.

In november 2018, spelinspektionen imposed a fine of 8 million swedish crowns (€768 thousand.) svenska spel casino cosmopol. The reason for the application of the penalty area, according to the representatives of the gambling regulator, were systematic violations of the rules of aml. Nevertheless, the company appealed the decision of the regulator in court and the amount of the fine was reduced to 3 million swedish crowns.

Moreover, this is not the only court decision, indicating that the controlling agency is too strictly punishable for violations. Recently, the court cut the size of the fine for the gambling-licensees aspire global and genesis global.

At the font despite the fact that the fines roll on licensees, as from the horns of abundance, only one sanction was paid – paf.

Recall that the controlling agency has developed new reporting rules for licenses of the gambling market.