Bet365 has been reprimanded by the Danish Gambling Authority, the Spillemyndigheden, due to violations of the country’s Money Laundering Act.
The DGA updated that the igaming operator had allowed a ‘young player’ to deposit DKK 190,000 (€25,500) to his account in under a year.
Referred to by the name of its business entity Hillside (New Media) Ltd, bet365 did not hold ‘sufficient knowledge of whether the player’s funds originated from criminal matters’.
The Authority further stated that due to the age of the player in comparison to the deposited amount, bet365 had the opportunity to investigate the origin of the player’s cash ‘in more detail’.
This could have been done by obtaining more information on income conditions, but since no investigations had been conducted there were no notes on the player.
Hillside/bet365’s actions were therefore in violation of customer due diligence procedures as well as investigation and listing obligations under the terms of Denmark’s Money Laundering Act.
However, although acknowledging the violation of licensing obligations, the Authority has made the decision not to enforce any action – such as a financial penalty – against bet365.
The DGA explained: “The Gambling Authority notes that the rules on customer due diligence procedures, duty to investigate and duty to list are absolutely fundamental in the Money Laundering Act, and violation of the rules leads as a clear starting point to injunctions or reprimands or, in serious or repeated cases, to police reporting.
“The prosecution does not entail any duty of action for Hillside, as Hillside has subsequently introduced new business procedures for customer knowledge procedures and investigation.”
The DGA’s reprimand of bet365 comes shortly after the authority revealed that compliance checks into gambling arcades and pubs had resulted in the opening of over 250 criminal cases between 2019 and 2021.
Additionally, the regulator also updated Danish gambling industry stakeholders earlier this year that it had blocked a total of 55 websites for illegal/unlicensed gamlbing during 2021, the highest figure in a single year.
