A Swedish Court of Appeal has reduced a SEK31.5m (PS2.3m/EUR2.7m/$2.9m) penalty fee issued by the country’s regulator (Spelinspektionen) to Mr Green in 2021.
The Court of Appeal decided on Monday, 27 May that Spelinspektionen acted in a proportionate manner when they issued an SEK31.5m fine against Mr Green back in August 2021. This penalty fee was issued for two different areas. The penalty fee was SEK 1.5m in total for failings related to anti-money laundering and SEK 30.0m due to duty of care.
The Court of Appeal reduced the fine to SEK12m. According to the court, the penalty fee was reduced in accordance with the Supreme Administrative Court’s ruling that outlines how the calculation of a fine should be done.
The court ruled that “The Court of Appeal believes that the amount of the penalty that is being proposed by the Swedish Gaming Authority, which the Court considers proportionate,” should be the maximum penalty.
Mr Green appealed to the Administrative Court of Linkoping the SEK31.5m fine and warning. Court ruled that Mr Green did not have adequate AML procedures. The court also found that Mr Green violated Money Laundering Act regarding customer due diligence. The court upheld both the warning fee and the penalty.
Why did Mr Green receive a penalty in 2021
Spelinspektionen was contacted by Mr Green’s customers in November 2019. This prompted an investigation into the AML policy of this operator. The review covered 15 different accounts.
Mr Green reported several of the customers in question to Sweden’s Financial Police. This was noted by the regulator as a sign of suspicions about money laundering.
One customer lost SEK3.2m after making deposits totaling SEK39.3m. The individual declared an annual income that just barely covered their losses. When the client stopped playing at Mr Green’s casino, Mr Green chose not to continue investigating possible money laundering.
A customer made a lot of deposits every day with Mr Green and lost more money than they declared over several years. This person’s gambling was more likely to be the cause of their harm than money laundering. The account of this customer was also closed along with several other accounts in 2020.
Spelinspektionen found that customers with deposit limits exceeding SEK100,000.000 had not been adequately contacted.
The gambling industry in Sweden has had a busy week of fines
This reduction in Mr Green’s fine fee is a result of a very busy penalty month on the Swedish market.
Hacksaw Gaming, Panda Bluemoon and other companies were warned and fined for providing unlicensed content. Hacksaw Gaming was fined SEK 2.6m while Panda Bluemoon received a SEK 700,000 penalty.
The Administrative Court of Appeal of Jonkoping also reduced a historical fine for Kindred’s subsidiary Spooniker a second-time this week. This fine is now SEK30m. It was originally set at SEK100m back in March 2020.
Spooniker has been accused of providing unauthorised bonuss and lotteries, without the proper licence.
The previous fee was SEK50m for 2021. Kindred appealed to the Administrative Court of Linkoping.
