William Hill ‘disappointed’ by Mr Green Spelinspektionen findings

William Hill has expressed its disappointment regarding Mr Green after it was fined SEK 30 million (€3.1m) by Spelinspektionen.

William Hill has expressed its disappointment regarding its flagship European online gambling subsidiary – Mr Green – after it was fined SEK 30 million (€3.1m) by Spelinspektionen.

Yesterday, the Swedish gambling regulator published its casework on Mr Green, outlining multiple AML compliance and duty of customer care failures identified between 1 January 2019 to 1 June 2020.

The investigation concluded that Mr Green had failed to maintain its AML duties with regards to verifying IDs, registering source-of-fund checks on large deposits and undertaking minimal interventions on players displaying problematic behaviours.

Commenting on the findings, Patrick Jonker, MD William Hill International and Mr Green, responded: “Player protection has always been a priority for Mr Green. We are disappointed by the findings as we always seek to operate in full compliance with regulations.

“The gaps noted by the Swedish authority were in relation to Mr Green’s procedures required under the duty of care, and the handling times relating to AML.

“Since this was identified, Mr Green has invested significant time and resources addressing the issues raised in the investigation, which Spelinspektionen has acknowledged in their findings.”

Split into two, Spelinspektionen fined Mr Green SEK 30m (€2.9m) due to customer care failures as its team were deemed to have not undertaken “sufficient measures to help customers reduce their gambling spend”. 

In addition to the first fine, the company was also penalised SEK 1.5 (€140,000) for failing to maintain its customer reporting duties as a requirement of the Money Laundering Act – whose rules are applied within Sweden’s reformed Gambling Act 2018.

Mr Green noted its AML shortcomings, stating that during 2019 its business had been transitioning to a new compliance system aligned with Spelinspektionen requirements, brought in by changes to Sweden’s online gambling laws. 

The findings focused on 15 customers who were reported to have used Mr Green to engage in money laundering or illicit activities.