Every week, CasinoBeats breaks down the numbers behind some of the industry’s most fascinating stories. In our latest edition we look back at further Australian land-based updates across Crown Resorts and SkyCity Entertainment Group, a Swedish regulatory reappointment, Dutch developments regarding a further infraction as well as a number of detainees and French sporting sponsorship action.
450
Crown Resorts is to pay a A$450m civil penalty after reaching an agreement with the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre over historical anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing failings at its Melbourne and Perth properties.
After initially commencing three years ago, Ciarán Carruthers, Crown CEO, said that the agreement, which is subject to Federal Court approval, marks a “significant step” in rectifying shortcomings that “were unacceptable”.
In reaching the agreement, the casino operator admitted to failing to “appropriately assess” AML/CTF financial risks, as well as not having the necessary risk-based systems and controls in place to mitigate and manage threats.
Crown acknowledged that it failed to establish high level frameworks regarding oversight of AML/CTF programs, and did not have a transaction monitoring program in place that was appropriate to the nature, size and complexity of their business.
20
French gambling authority l’Autorité Nationale des Jeux rolled-out a series of guidelines and recommendations designed to heighten the protection of minors, prevent excessive gambling and ramp-up the fight against the black market.
This, it was said, was a necessary step after “several trends” were observed, with an increasing usage of athletes in promotional gambling material, in stadia advertising and naming rights and appearance of redirection links, in addition to alliances with illegal operators, all cited.
The cost of partnerships between the country’s sporting ecosystem and legal gambling operators increased by 20 per cent through 2022 to reach €40.7m (2022: €34m).
In addition, it was added that €15m was undertaken in partnership with operators not authorised in France, which the ANJ said primarily concerned “online casino sites” that were “for punters located in Africa and Asia”.
250,000
The National Postcode Lottery and Friends Lottery became the latest entities to fall foul of the Dutch gambling authority, Kansspelautoriteit, with an order subject to periodic penalty payments subsequently imposed.
This is due to each offering online games that are not permitted according to the lottery permits held. If this is not ceased immediately, both parties will pay a penalty of €250,000 per week up to a maximum of €1m.
The National Postcode Lottery offers the Games Lottery on its own website via the Deal or no Deal, Suitcase hunt, ONE against 50 and Move That Truck titles.
Following an investigation, the Ksa determined that these represent online casino games that are not covered by the lottery licence possessed by the group.
Similarly, the VriendenLoterij offers a Games Lottery, where the FriendsLottery Millionaires, Club-man and Bingo Crush games can be played. These were also found to be online gaming titles that are not covered by the licence handed down.
2017
Gaming Innovation Group commenced the search for a new Chief Executive Officer of the group’s platform division after disclosing that Richard Brown will depart as CEO by the close of the year.
After joining the company in December 2017 as Chief Digital Officer, a post held for one year, Brown subsequently moved onto Chief Operating Officer duties before being named into the aforementioned role in November 2019.
During his tenure, Brown was tasked with leading GiG’s reorganisation, which involved the company divesting its B2C igaming portfolio to Betsson amid a refocus on the development of its B2B technology solutions.
2022
South Australia’s Liquor and Gambling Commissioner, Dini Soulio, instructed SkyCity Entertainment Group to appoint a “suitably qualified independent expert” at its Adelaide-based venue.
In a move reminiscent of similar appointments in the country, notably in Sydney by Star Entertainment, the independent monitor will review the operator’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing and responsibility enhancement programs.
This comes as an independent investigation into the suitability of SkyCity Adelaide in continuing to possess a casino licence remains on hold, pending the outcome of the AUSTRAC proceedings in the Federal Court.
The investigation was triggered in July 2022 when Consumer and Business Service, South Australia’s gambling regulator, cited a “number of the matters raised to date” that it said highlighted “broader systemic issues within the casino industry”.
6.6
Camilla Rosenberg’s term as Director General of Spelinspektionen has been extended by the Swedish government until the end of October 2026.
The gambling authority has announced that Rosenberg will continue in the position she has held since 2017 before Spelinspektionen was rebranded from Lotteriinspektionen in 2019 to include the regulation of online gambling.
In addition, the regulator recently declared that Swedish-licensed gaming companies earned SEK 6.6bn in revenue during the first quarter of 2023, unchanged compared to the previous year.
11
Eleven individuals were arrested after being caught in the act of participating in an illegal poker game following a raid in the Dutch city of Amsterdam.
In addition to playing cards and other poker supplies, the joint police and Kansspelautoriteit investigation also uncovered two blocks of hashish and two firearms.
Several electronic data carriers were also seized for the purpose of the investigation, which included telephones, hard drives and carriers of video and camera images.
The Dutch gambling authority noted that the criminal investigation department is conducting further investigations into those present to ensure that they can be tried appropriately at a later stage.