Sweden: 3 Million Euro fine against Mr Green

Around two weeks ago, the Swedish gambling supervisory authority imposed a record breaking fine against gambling giant Mr Green. Mr Green Limited, which is based in Malta, should now pay a fine amounting to 30 million SEK. When converted, this amounts to the sum of around three million Euro.

The Swedish Gambling Authority Spielinspektionen is famous for its rigorous procedures in infringements against the valid gambling laws. In February of last year, we had already reported that the Swedish authorities had imposed a fine of around 17,5 million Euro on ComeOn Group. In the current case, the gambling giant Mr Green, which many Germans know from the TV commercials, is accused with serious weaknesses in the areas of gambling addiction and prevention of money laundering.

Gambling Authority carried out intensive investigations

The Gambling Supervisory Authority Spielinspektionen had monitored the activities at Mr Green over a longer period of time. Previously, the operator itself had reported several of its customers to the responsible Finance Authorities. In these cases, there were among other things, suspicions of money laundering.

This incident gave the supervisory authority the opportunity to monitor the gambling provider in detail. At this stage, several law infringements were discovered. This involved, among other things, the fact, that the customers were not checked enough by the operator Mr Green. It was for example observed, that there were several customers, whose deposits in the gambling accounts exceeded their own revenues by far. In these cases, there is a suspicion of money laundering and also the financing of terrorism, and thus this must be followed up in detail.

A gambler deposited around 3,5 million Euro

According to Spielinspektionen the case of an individual gambler, who had deposited a total of 39,3 million SEK at Mr Green was especially suspicious. When converted, this amounts to around 3,8 million Euro. The conspicuous Mr Green gambler had however lost “only” around 3,2 million SEK (= around. 310,000 Euro). The investigations of the supervisory authority revealed, that the gambler had not earned enough income, to be able to justify these type of deposits at the casino. However Mr Green did not take the necessary measures against this gambler.

Several “problem gamblers“ were directly motivated to participate in gambling

Besides this, the Swedish Gambling Authorities have discovered, that in at least five cases, the players were contacted directly by Mr Green, to motivate them to gamble. The contact was unsolicited and was done by email or telephone. At the beginning of the year, we had already reported that the Swedish Gambling Authority had warned that ”Problem players were sometimes specifically targeted by providers.

In the past, the Swedish gambling authority had already imposed a record fine against the gambling group Betsson amounting to 20 million SEK. After Betsson had protested, a Swedish administrative court had decided, that the fine from Betsson does not have to be paid.

Mr Green makes an effort to limit damage

As Mr Green announced in a recent statement, they took the disclosed maladministration quite seriously. They are currently making an effort to improve the situation. Mr Green for example pointed out, that the gambling accounts of those concerned, who do not react when contacted by Mr Green, will be closed immediately.

Conclusion

The money laundering law in Sweden places high demands on gambling firms. The aim is to prevent, that gambling activities are misused to finance terrorism or for money laundering. For this reason, the gambling companies must identify their players and research enough information, to be able to detect possible risks and dangers. Since in the case of Mr Green, there were breaches in this area, a fine amounting to nearly three million Euro, when converted, was imposed on the gambling group. However till now it is still not clear, whether Mr Green will accept the fine and pay or whether they will protest against it.

Image source: https://pixabay.com/de/photos/international-fahne-flagge-sweden-2684767/