Danish gambling regulator reprimands Betfair over AML failings

Spillemyndigheden has issued three orders against the gambling operator.

Denmark.- The Danish gambling regulator Spillemyndigheden has issued a reprimand and three orders against Betfair International. It found that Flutter’s brand committed several breaches of Denmark’s Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Act.

One of the orders relates to inadequate risk assessment procedures while the others involve insufficient procedures for customer due diligence and improper internal controls. The regulator said that according to its review, Betfair’s risk assessment did not adequately consider the risks of it business model. Meanwhile, written customer due diligence procedures and procedures of employee screening didn’t meet the legal requirements.

Spillemyndigheden said: “Betfair lacked evidence of sufficient controls in areas such as risk management, customer due diligence and employee screening”. 

It’s ordered the operator to draw up a new risk assessment and improve its business procedures and documentation of control procedures. It has three months to address the first two orders and 12 months for the last.

Danish gambling revenue fell by 2.8 per cent in 2022 to DKK10.1bn (€1.36bn). Land-basd revenue rose after the end of Covid-19 restrictions in the previous two years, but online gambling revenue fell.

Online gambling remained the largest segment accounting for 60 per cent of gambling revenue. The country had the 12th highest gambling spend in Europe but the lowest in the Nordic region, with an average spend per person of DKK2,350 (€315).