In Sweden and prominent iGaming operator LeoVegas AB has reportedly been ordered to pay a fine of approximately $238,100 for allegedly breaching customer due diligence protocols associated with the nation’s anti-money laundering rules.

The Stockholm-headquartered firm used an official press release to detail that it now intends to appeal the decision from the Spelinspektionen regulator, which related to supposed shortcomings at the time the Swedish online gaming market first opened in 2019. The operator also pronounced that it ‘is continually developing its policies to ensure compliance’ and had already ‘changed and updated its customer due diligence routines’ before the initiation of the regulator’s investigation.

Limited look:

LeoVegas AB is responsible for a plethora of iGaming sites including RoyalPanda.com, LeoVegas.com, BetUK.com, SlotBoss.co.uk, Bingos.co.uk and 21.co.uk and last summer made its GoGoCasino.com and LiveCasino.com domains available to online casino aficionados in neighboring Finland. It stated that the Spelinspektionen has so far ‘only reviewed the company’s routines in 2019’ and that its appeal is destined to allow a court ‘to review the matter and give the entire industry further guidance on how the current regulations are to be interpreted.’

Read a statement from LeoVegas AB…

“Each year the company is subjected to numerous audits and reviews by local supervisory authorities and external auditors. Compliance has top priority at LeoVegas AB and is an area that the company is continually developing in order to meet the requirements that the regulators and the company itself put on its operations.”

Regulatory revelation:

In its official sanction (pdf), the Spelinspektionen declared that its rules place ‘high demands’ on licensed gaming operators in order to counteract the exploitation of legitimate businesses for the purposes of laundering money and financing terrorism. It furthermore proclaimed that its protocols grounded in ‘a risk-based approach’ oblige iGaming firms to ‘take measures that are in proportion to the risks to which they are exposed.’

Illicit insecurity:

The Spelinspektionen additionally asserted that licensed iGaming firms are required by law to identify their customers and ‘find out enough information to be able to assess and manage’ any associated risks. It divulged that LeoVegas AB had not operated in line with ‘such a risk-based manner’ that compels companies to initiate ‘more comprehensive measures for customer awareness’ should the measure of danger reach an elevated level.

Read a statement from the Spelinspektionen…

“LeoVegas AB has failed in its work on customer knowledge and risk classification of customers and it has failed in the documentation for what measures have been taken. This has entailed significant risks that LeoVegas AB may have been used for money laundering and terrorist financing, which must be considered serious.”