Spelinspektionen orders Evoke to re-verify Swedish customer accounts

An investigation by Spelinspektionen outlined verification discrepancies related to customers registered by William Hill's Evoke during 2019.

William Hill records further Swedish compliance struggles following an investigation by Spelinspektionen, which outlined a number of verification discrepancies related to customers registered during 2019.

The company’s subsidiary, Evoke Gaming, has been demanded by the Swedish gambling regulator to re-verify player accounts registered by its brands during the January to July 2019 period.

The investigation focused on Evoke’s management of its licencing duties, in which customers had to be verified to the standards of the new Swedish Gambling Act brought into force from January 1, 2019.

In compliance with the new orders, Evoke allowed its existing customers to ‘manually confirm’ their details by registering personal documents as ID-verification. However, this was deemed insufficient by the Spelinspektionen, as the documents registered could not verify customers’ address, IP and social security numbers as ID requirements needed to comply with Gambling Act rules.

Despite Evoke’s response in stating that it had required existing customers to manually submit ID documents recommended by the Gambling Act – drivers licence, passports and national ID cards – Spelinspektionen outlined that licenced operators are required to carry out customer background checks on social security numbers to verify against the national self-exclusion registry of Spelpaus.se.

As a result, Evoke has been ordered to submit a report to the inspectorate no later than November 9, 2021 outlining the measures it has taken to re-verify customers playing during the disputed period.

Forming part of William Hill’s European online gambling subsidiary, Mr Green, Evoke gaming was fined €3m this month by Spelinspektionen in relation to AML and failure of customer care duties.