The British gambling operator bet365 has suffered the Danish Gambling Authority’s backlash over a compliance failure linked to 2 of the company’s licensing conditions.
The Danish gambling regulatory body – Spillemyndigheden – referred to the British online gambling and sports betting company by the name of Hillside (New Media) Ltd, its business entity, to state that bet365 had done nothing to prevent a young player from making a deposit of DKK190,000 to his account in less than a year. What is more – the operator did not make sure at the time whether the player’s funds were generated as a result of criminal activity or not.
Furthermore, the Danish Gambling Authority noted that the British gambling operator should have taken the chance to investigate the player’s funds in detail, especially considering their age and the amount that was deposited in their customer account. As noted by Spillemyndigheden, the gambling company could have done this by obtaining more information on the player’s income conditions but such investigation had not been carried out and bet365 had no notes on the player in question.
As found by the country’s gambling watchdog, the actions of the company breached not only the procedures linked to customer due diligence but also the obligations for holding an investigation and listing under the provisions of the Money Laundering Act.
The Danish Gambling Watchdog Takes No Further Enforcement Actions against bet365
Still, despite its findings and the acknowledgеment that bet365 violated its licensing conditions, the Danish Gambling Authority has decided not to proceed any further by enforcing any action against the British gambling operator.
The regulator explained that the rules linked with customer due diligence requirements, as well as the duty to investigate and list are extremely important under the provisions of the Danish Money Laundering Act. Violation of these rules is considered a starting point to reprimands or injunctions against companies, and in more serious or repeated cases, could even lead to police reporting. Spillemyndigheden also revealed that the prosecution did not entail any duty of action for the British gambling company’s business entity, as new business procedures regarding customer knowledge and investigation had been subsequently unveiled by Hillside.
The watchdog’s criticism faced by bet365 comes shortly after the Danish Gambling Authority revealed the compliance check into pubs and gambling arcades had led to the opening of more than 250 criminal cases in the two-year period between 2019 and 2021. The regulatory body, however, revealed a year-on-year decline in the number of police reports resulting from compliance checks in the sector.
In addition, earlier in 2022, the country’s gambling regulatory body updated the stakeholders in the local gambling industry that a total of 55 online platforms had been blocked in the previous year due to offering illegal or unlicensed gambling services. This has been the largest number of illegal online gambling sites blocked by the authority in a single year so far.
- Author
Olivia Cole
