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Swedish Regulatory Authority Fines Spooniker for Repeated AML Lapses

Spooniker from Kindred faced a hefty $1 million fine by Spelinspektionen for persistent Anti-Money Laundering (AML) issues. This penalty comes after previous penalties and warnings from the Swedish gambling regulator.

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Spooniker from Kindred, a gaming company, hit with a $1 million fine by Spelinspektionen due to...
Spooniker from Kindred, a gaming company, hit with a $1 million fine by Spelinspektionen due to repeated Anti-Money Laundering lapses, an issue previously addressed with penalties and cautions from the Swedish regulatory body.

Swedish Regulatory Authority Fines Spooniker for Repeated AML Lapses

Gambling firm Spooniker, responsible for seven betting and gaming websites in Sweden, including unibet.se and mariabingo.se, faces fresh regulatory scrutiny following continued AML woes.

Interesting fact: Spelinspektionen, Sweden's gambling authority, discovered that some users had deposited funds equal to or higher than their annual income, with insufficient follow-up checks.

After finding Spooniker had not made sufficient progress in fixing its customer monitoring issues since 2022, Spelinspektionen slapped the operator with a SEK10 million ($1 million) fine and a warning. The regulator's review, carried out between May 2023 and April 2024, focused on five customers, with concerns about high deposits and unusual gaming behavior going unaddressed.

One notable instance involved a customer depositing SEK460,000 without being subjected to deeper scrutiny. The individual, having just joined the platform, should have triggered stricter due diligence measures, yet this did not occur.

Spelinspektionen also noted gaps in transaction records, citing one instance where money moved from another gambling firm to a player's bank account and then into their Spooniker account but without a cohesive audit trail. This raised concerns about the source of the funds and the operator's inability to assess whether the transactions were tied to money laundering or terrorism financing.

Spooniker has made some strides, with continuous monitoring and monthly loss limits being implemented. However, the regulator concluded that action had been taken too slowly, with no corrective measures proved effective against the reviewed users' suspicious activities.

This is not the first time Spooniker has faced regulatory fines for such issues, having been penalized SEK10.9 million in November 2022 for similar control weaknesses and SEK30 million in 2023 for offering unapproved bonuses and lottery services back in 2020.

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Regulatory fines aside, such violations can result in severe reputational damage and operational risks. In adequate AML controls, companies may expose themselves to legal and compliance risks. To combat AML violations, governments and financial institutions may implement enhanced due diligence, regular audits, and ongoing employee training.

  1. The regulatory agency, Spelinspektionen, continues to scrutinize gambling firm Spooniker after finding insufficient progress in addressing AML issues, having imposed a SEK10 million fine in addition to a warning.
  2. The regulatory review of Spooniker, conducted from May 2023 to April 2024, revealed concerns about high deposits, unusual gaming behavior, and gaps in transaction records, which may be indicative of money laundering or terrorism financing.
  3. Despite implementing continuous monitoring and monthly loss limits, Spooniker's slow actions to correct the suspicious activities of five reviewed users have raised concerns about its regulatory compliance in Sweden's sports gambling sector.

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