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Flutter-owned Betfair International Plc has been hit with an indictment and three injunctions by the Danish gambling regulator over anti-money laundering (AML) failings.
The Danish Gambling Authority (DGA) issued the online gambling exchange with an injunction over violations of the Money Laundering Act on July 6, before publicly announcing it on July 10.
The injunctions are split into three orders.
The first order has been given because Betfair’s risk assessment “has not separately assessed the individual identified inherent risk factors which are connected to its business model”, according to the DGA.
The second order was given for several reasons, such as the operator’s written business procedures for customer due diligence procedures not sufficiently including customer due diligence procedures that must be carried out at appropriate times, according to the DGA.
Additionally, Betfair's written business procedures regarding screening of employees were found to not allow it to know if an employee received a criminal conviction after they have started working for the company.
The third order was given because Betfair has not documented that it has carried out controls with appropriate frequency in the areas of risk management, customer due diligence procedures, investigation, listing and notification obligations, storage of information, screening of employees and internal control, according to the DGA.
All the injunctions require Betfair to take action to rectify the issues flagged by the regulator.
This means that Betfair must submit an updated risk assessment, updated business procedures that address the deficiencies that the injunctions identify, as well as documentation for future checks carried out.
Betfair has three months to make the changes relating to the first two injunctions and a period of 12 months to send documentation to fulfil the third injunction.
The indictment alleges that Betfair’s written business procedures up to May 16, 2023 did not “sufficiently include checks on customers' identity information”.
That final indictment entails no obligation to act for Betfair, as it is a case of infringement that no longer exists, the regulator said; however, the DGA added that violations of the Money Laundering Act start with an injunction, but in repeated cases will lead to a police report being filed.
On January 12, 2023, the Danish Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) published a new national risk assessment on money laundering, replacing the 2018 risk assessment.
The Money Laundering Act covers gambling operators that offer online betting, land-based betting, online casino and land-based casino games.
Gambling operators are obliged to incorporate the new national risk assessment into their own business risk assessment, ensuring that these reflect their current risk profile, which may require revisions, at all times. These must also be reassessed at least once a year, or if risk factors change upon the release of a new product or new supra/national risk assessments.
The DGA has issued other reprimands for AML failings since the new rules came into effect.
On June 19, 2023, the DGA issued six orders to the Royal Scandinavian Casino Århus I/S (RSCA) for breaching risk assessment rules in the Money Laundering Act.
On March 31, 2023, the DGA announced that it had reprimanded Cashpoint Limited for breaching the rules regarding know your customer (KYC) measures specified under the Money Laundering Act.
