The Danish Gambling Authority has scolded Casumo for breaching local regulations on anti-money laundering identification and risk assessment.
The operator received the reprimand this week on 5 July, despite withdrawing its Danish licence and exiting the country’s online gambling market on 18 April 2022.
There is no obligation to act for Casumo. It had already updated its risk assessment procedure before handing in its operating licence, according to the regulator.
The DGA said Casumo did not sufficiently include identification and risk assessment of customer types and was particularly found lacking on temporary accounts.
The breaches applied for the period up until 11 March 2022.
However, the reprimand was also awarded for the period up until 18 April, because the Maltese online casino company did not risk assess its mobile app sufficiently in the eyes of the DGA.
“The Danish Gambling Authority assesses that Casumo has not had a risk assessment which sufficiently contributed to ensure that Casumo was not abused for purposes of money laundering or financing of terrorism,” said the regulator in a statement.
Breaches of the AML Act in Denmark often lead to an order or a reprimand from the regulator.
In serious or repeated cases, however, gambling firms can also be reported to the police, as sports betting operator Tipwin found out last month.
Denmark’s latest market data, which covers the month of May, saw the country’s regulated operators generate a combined DKK245.7m in GGR, the equivalent to €33m.
The Danish Gambling Authority (DGA) has reported sports betting operator Tipwin to the police for breaching several rules relating to the regulator’s anti-money laundering act.
The regulator said that up until 16 May 2022, Tipwin had not prepared a proper risk assessment of its sale of land-based betting products, while business procedures relating to AML were also deemed insufficient up until 25 May.
According to the DGA, Tipwin has not implemented the correct risk assessment policies and operational procedures that would mitigate the risk of money laundering.
It said: “By neglecting to prepare a risk assessment, Tipwin has not had a useful tool to provide an overview and understanding of where and to which extent Tipwin is in risk of being abused for purposes of money laundering or financing of terrorism.
“By neglecting to prepare a risk assessment, policies and sufficient business procedures for their provision of land-based gambling products, Tipwin has exposed itself to a significant risk of being abused for purposes of money laundering.”
The land-based failings relate to self-service betting terminals, prize receipts and credit vouchers, while the operator also failed to assess customers that made transactions of more than €2,000 within 24 hours.
DGA: “By neglecting to prepare a risk assessment and sufficient business procedures for their provision of land-based gambling products, Tipwin has exposed itself to a significant risk of being abused for purposes of money laundering.”
Further breaches were identified in the training of staff because Tipwin had not sufficiently ensured or documented that all employees had received the correct AML training.
The breaches were not only limited to retail as the DGA revealed Tipwin’s online betting and casino website failed to follow the sufficient procedure with regards to notifying Denmark’s Money Laundering Secretariat.
As well as turning the company over to the police, the regulator has imposed its own enforcement order on Tipwin.
The operator now has a three-month deadline to correct the identified breaches, which are outlined in full on the DGA’s website.
Tipwin was founded in 2011 and is an international sports betting operator based and licensed in Malta via the MGA. It is also licensed in Germany by the city of Darmstadt and is a major player in the market, having struck several high-profile sponsorship deals with leading football clubs, including Bayer 04 Leverkusen.
A note on the firm’s website states: “As an international company, we place a great emphasis on compliance with the respective national policies and guidelines.
“In particular, we find the protection of players and youth very important as well as data protection and the security of money transfers.”