Sports betting operator suspended and fined for breaches of anti-money laundering rules in France
The CNS also fined two senior executives at the French sports betting operator.
France.- The National Sanctions Committee (CNS) has handed down financial penalties and temporary industry bans to a licensed online sports betting operator and two senior executives. The watchdog cited breaches of French and European asset-freezing regulations designed to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.
The sanctions stem from a case referred to the CNS by the French gambling regulator, the ANJ, last year. The committee upheld the action in July, but the ANJ only published the ruling this week.
Under the decision, the operator, identified only as “GU”, was fined €20,000 and ordered to suspend online betting activities for two months. The former chief executive and head of the parent company that supplied staff to the business, identified as Monsieur AB, received a two-month prohibition from managing activities within the online betting sector alongside a €20,000 fine. Compliance officer Madame BG was also barred from management activities in the sector for two months and fined €5,000.
The CNS chose not to disclose the identities of the individuals involved, citing procedural rules aimed at avoiding disproportionate harm. No penalties were imposed on the company’s legal officer or its owner and principal shareholder.
The case centred on a customer account opened on December 3 2023 by an individual whose name appeared on France’s register of persons subject to an asset-freezing order. According to the ruling, the operator’s systems generated alerts on the same day, but the account was nevertheless validated 11 days later, on December 14.
The ANJ informed the operator of the issue and opened an administrative investigation on January 3 2024. The account was subsequently closed the following day.
In its assessment, the CNS concluded that the operator had failed to maintain adequate systems and controls to ensure the rapid and effective enforcement of asset-freezing requirements. The committee found that the account should never have been opened given the alerts generated by the system, determining that the operator had breached articles L.562-4-1 and R.562-1 of the French monetary and financial code. The ruling described the obligation as an “obligation of result” that requires operators to guarantee prohibited accounts are not created.
The CNS also found that GU failed to notify the Minister of Economy, Finance and Industrial, Energy and Digital Sovereignty about the asset-freezing incident and the related transactions. No notification was made either on December 3, when a suspected human error reportedly led to a false positive assessment, or after the account was closed on January 4.
The committee rejected a separate allegation that the operator had accepted or processed transactions without verifying the customer’s identity or the purpose of the transactions, citing a lack of sufficient evidence.
Earlier this month, the ANJ published new player fraud guidance for French gambling operators. Among the measures encouraged by the regulator were stronger terms and conditions, improved record-keeping and evidence collection, as well as higher technical compliance standards.
