The Netherlands gambling authority, De Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has announced that it has fined Entain-owned BetEnt BV €3 million ($3.27 million) for anti-money laundering (AML) and terrorist financing failures.
According to the KSA’s announcement, BetEnt, which trades in the Netherlands as BetCity, failed to follow the strict regulations as set out in the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Act (WWFT). This includes monitoring customers’ transactions and reporting any unusual transactions to the Dutch Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).
The KSA initially reviewed BetEnt’s customer surveys protocols and gave clear instructions to the operator in September 2022 on how to carry out the procedures correctly. The KSA then followed up that review with a further investigation which revealed that between December 2022 and May 2023, BetEnt did not meet the requirements for security and AML protocols as laid out by the regulator.
It was discovered that in many cases where suspicious activity took place, investigations into transfers did not take place until long after large sums were gambled. The company also failed to establish source of funds and failed to report the unusual transactions to the FIU. As a result of the investigation, the KSA decided to issue an immediate fine of €3 million ($3.27 million).
René Jansen, chairperson of the KSA said:
“In May last year, the Ksa issued a broad warning to licensed providers that they should put their Wwft cases in order quickly. We then indicated that when an investigation shows that providers are underperforming with regards to the Wwft, sanctions would be imposed. We are now following up on that.
We are now well out of the market start-up phase, which means that there are no more excuses for these infractions.”
Earlier this year BetEnt was fined €400,000 for rules breaches that included targeting young adults in its marketing campaigns.
This brings the total fines for 2023 to more than €400 million ($433.9 million) while the KSA’s fines make up almost €23.4 million ($25.5 million) of that figure.
According to research by USA-Casino.com, gambling industry fines in 2022 came to €251,712,034 ($269,532,490) – a significant increase of 443.9% compared to 2021’s total of €44,753,969 ($48,642,992). 2023’s figures have already seen an increase of 59.3% year-on-year with a month of the year left.
Ciaran has been working within the Gambling Industry as a deep analyst since 2019. His deep knowledge and understanding of all the gambling regulations, and processes makes him a true asset, and an always valuable point of view for Gambling Industry News, allowing us to cover every topics from a brand new perspective.
