Te European Commission’s Supranational Risk Assessment (SRA) has become one of the most influential, if often misunderstood, tools shaping how gambling businesses are perceived by regulators and financial institutions across the European Union.


SUPRANATIONAL RISK ASSESSMENT The European Commission-led framework


How vital is SRA? And what is it?


The Supranational Risk Assessment


(SRA) is a European Commission-led framework designed to evaluate money laundering (ML) and terrorist financing (TF) risks across sectors within the European Union.


Introduced in 2017 alongside the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, the SRA was designed to provide a high-level view of where money laundering and terrorist financing risks sit across different sectors of the European economy. Rather than imposing rules, it offers guidance: a framework intended to help Member States build their own national responses to financial crime. Tat distinction is important. Because the SRA is not binding, its real-world impact depends entirely on how it is interpreted - by governments, regulators and, crucially, banks.


From the outset, the assessment took a broad, sector-based approach, assigning risk levels according to perceived vulnerability. Te gambling industry was included early on, spanning land-based casinos, online gaming, lotteries, bingo and poker. In the first iteration, the conclusions were stark. Casinos were classified among the highest-risk sectors, largely on the basis of their association with cash and the long-held assumption that the conversion of cash into chips and back again created an inherent laundering risk.


Te initial assessment was met with strong resistance from the land- based sector, which argued that it failed to reflect the reality of modern compliance controls. Over time, however, the dialogue between industry and policymakers has evolved, and subsequent iterations of the SRA have shown a more nuanced understanding of how different forms of gambling operate.


EVOLUTION OF THE SRA


Te most recent assessment, published in 2022 after a pandemic- related delay, marked a significant shift. Land-based casinos were downgraded to a lower risk category, reflecting the Commission’s recognition of strengthened controls, from enhanced customer due


The result has been a wave of de-risking. Increased due


diligence requirements, higher operational costs and the termination of banking relationships altogether.


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