The Swedish gambling regulator has updated its anti-money laundering (AML) and terrorist financing guidance, with clarifications on due diligence obligations chief among the changes.
Spelinspektionen said due diligence has been the main area of concern in its AML-focused supervision of the gambling industry since its previous guidance in 2021.
The regulator said efforts from some licence holders in this area have been “insufficient.”
“A key principle of the anti-money laundering regulatory framework is to prevent businesses from being used for money laundering and terrorist financing,” Spelinspektionen said.
“At the same time, the ability to run an efficient business should not be unnecessarily impacted. Balancing these interests requires a risk-based approach from license holders.
“This risk-based approach should be embedded in the license holder's efforts against money laundering and terrorist financing, ensuring that the measures taken are proportionate to the risks within their operations.”
In November, a Swedish gambling trade association put forward a series of AML recommendations to the gambling regulator on behalf of its members.
The suggestions, based on interviews with members of the Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling (BOS), were contained in its report, produced in collaboration with consulting agency Advisense.
Respondents to the report “consistently called” for more detailed guidance from Spelinspektionen, the Swedish gambling regulator, on various AML processes, BOS said.
Speaking to iNTERGAMINGi, Gustaf Hoffstedt, BOS’ secretary general, said ahead of the updated guidance that there was apprehension from many operators about working within the framework.
“One reason [for the calls for more detailed AML guidance] is the obvious – that a number of operators and licence holders have already received fines from the Swedish Gambling Authority according to infringements of the AML regulation," he said.
"So, even if the operator itself believes it has a well-functioning AML standard within the company, they face a risk of receiving AML fines.
“The Swedish legislation is known to be a framework legislation. The consequence of that is that compared to most other jurisdictions it often lacks clarity.
“The standard reply from the authority is very often that the answer is within the legislation, but we do not give any detailed guidance on how to act in comparison to a lot of other jurisdictions.”
Hoffstedt said that the Swedish Gambling Authority’s AML situation is in direct comparison with Denmark, where the gambling regulator, Spillemyndigheden, has “handed out AML guidance consisting of 80 pages to their licence holders, and we don’t have anything equivalent in Sweden.”
Read more: SPER welcomes Swedish credit proposal
