to the income of gaming businesses, deciding that if gambling revenue constitutes more than 10 per cent of total income, then they are not allowed an account with that bank. If a client has a majority interest in a gaming business, including state-owned participation, and the majority interest is more than 50 per cent, banks have also withdrawn their services.


Te Supranational Risk Assessment does not give recommendations to financial institutions as to how they interpret the report’s findings, it simply shows the risk. Te organisation reading and interpreting the report must come to their own conclusions as to their response, which at this moment is individual and unpredictable. However, in its simplest form, for the whole gaming sector, doing business becomes much more difficult the higher your risk rating.


WHAT DOES A REDUCED RATING MEAN FOR LAND-BASED?


Are the banks or any other institutions programmed in such a way to recognise the different forms of gambling and how they are conducted? Do they consider the difference between licensed online gambling, regulated land-based casinos and the illegal sector? Tis


P76 WIRE / PULSE / INSIGHT / REPORTS


The Supranational Risk Assessment does not give


recommendations to financial institutions as to how they


interpret the report’s findings, it simply shows the risk. The


organisation reading and interpreting the


report must come to their own


conclusions, which at this moment is individual and unpredictable. However, in its simplest form, for the whole gaming sector, doing business becomes much more difficult the higher your risk rating.


is the big question. Teoretically, a risk level two means that land- based casinos have qualified measures to mitigate money laundering and proof that procedures are in place to counteract AML issues. Te rating means that casinos are considered to be more trustworthy, which should mean fewer controls and less expense in the operation of the business. Scrutiny should be less as casinos are not put under the magnifying glass to the same degree, which reflects the fact that to date there was never been a single money laundering case reported by Europol within a European casino.


When it comes to new laws and new regulation, the hope is that the Supranational Risk Assessment’s level two rating will be taken into account and consideration. It is further hoped that lawmakers recognise that land-based casinos have had to implement very intense customer due diligence, looking deeper into the origin of funds, which is justified in terms of responsible gaming measures, but not for AML.


LAND-BASED CASINOS WITH ONLINE LICENCES FACE DOUBLE JEOPARDY


Te Supranational Risk Assessment


mentions the fact that regulated land-based casinos also operate online gambling sites, but the problem is in regards the interpretation of the findings and the broad brush used to cover the sector. Te danger posed by illegal operators unfortunately makes the operation of legal, licensed and regulated online sites much more complicated.


You must report all aspects of your transactions and work to maintain your reputation with financial institutions who consider you not only as the highest level of risk, but as a very costly client with whom to do business. Reputation is something easily lost, but very hard to regain. Tere have been massive fines handed out in 2022/23 by the UK Gambling Commission, by the Dutch Gaming Board, the Swedish Gaming Board etc., all relating to failures of AML within online companies, which brings the entire industry into disrepute.


EU COUNTRIES INTERPRET THE SRA FINDINGS DIFFERENTLY


Te Supranational Risk Assessment is on the desk of every regulator to interpret and study and come to their own conclusions. Regulators use these findings as an argument for the implementation of stricter and harsher regulation.


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