Danish Gambling Authority slams Betfair for AML failings

Betfair has been reprimanded by the Danish Gambling Authority (DGA) after it violated section 7 of the Money Laundering Act.

The Flutter Entertainment-owned operator has been ordered to fix issues around several anti-money laundering (AML) failings.  

The regulator’s first order established that the operator’s risk assessment procedures didn’t consider the individual risks concerning its business model. 

In its next finding, the DGA noted Betfair did not have written procedures in place around the screening of employees.

The DGA said a lack of procedures failed to ensure that the company would be aware if an employee was convicted of a criminal offence while employed, which might increase the risk that an employee may abuse their position for money laundering or terrorist financing. 

The regulator also said the firm did not have the right business procedures in place for customer due diligence. It found that the operator did not sufficiently describe control measures in its written business procedures, which included how often internal controls are conducted and how. 

In its last finding, the DGA said that Betfair did not hold documented evidence of risk management, customer due diligence procedures, the obligations to investigate, register and notify, record keeping, screening of employees and internal control. 

Due to this, Betfair needs to submit an updated risk assessment and business procedures, as well as documentation for controls performed in the future. 

The regulator has hit Betfair with a three-month deadline to correct the first two points and a year to fix the third. 

It was also found that Betfair had previously failed to cover the customers’ identity information sufficiently. However, the regulator did not issue an order to the operator as the breach was amended by the 16 May deadline it had handed to the firm.