Reprimand to Spillehallen.dk A/S for breach of the Anti-Money Laundering Act

The reaction was issued in connection with the Danish Gambling Authority's inspection of Spillehallen's written material, which Spillehallen has prepared to comply with the Danish Anti-Money Laundering Act's requirement that Spillehallen must identify and assess the risk of Spillehallen being misused for money laundering and financing of terrorism.

The reprimand is given because Spillehallen's risk assessment in the period up to 10 December 2023 was inadequate, as it contained an insufficient identification and assessment of the risk factors associated with Spillehallen's customers and organisation. 

It follows from section 7(1)(2) of the Anti-Money Laundering Act that companies subject to the Act must, among other things, identify and assess risk factors associated with customers.

The reprimand is also given because Spillehallen had taken risk mitigation measures into account in the risk assessment in a number of areas up until 10 December 2023 when assessing the inherent risk. 

Section 7 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act states that companies subject to the Act must identify and assess the risk that the company may be misused for money laundering or financing of terrorism. The risk assessment must include an assessment of the company's inherent risk. This means that the risk assessment must be made without taking into account the risk mitigation measures that companies have implemented in accordance with the Anti-Money Laundering Act. For example, customer due diligence procedures cannot be included in the risk assessment.

Thus, Spillehallen has not complied with the obligation of risk assessment in section 7 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act. 

The Danish Gambling Authority assesses that an inadequate risk assessment may have increased Spillehallen's risk of being misused for money laundering. The purpose of the risk assessment is to provide the gambling operator with a useful tool that gives an overview and understanding of where and to what extent the gambling operator is exposed to being misused for money laundering or financing of terrorism, and what measures are necessary to limit the risks.

Duty to act

The reprimand does not entail an obligation to act for Spillehallen, as it is a breach that no longer exists. 

Learning points

Gambling operators should ask themselves the following questions based on the breaches identified above to prevent being misused for money laundering or fi-nancing of terrorism:

• Have we identified and assessed the risk of money laundering and financing of terrorism in all parts of our business model, including all customer types and risk factors associated with our organisation?
• Have we identified and assessed the inherent risk without considering risk mitigation measures?