The Swedish Gambling Authority (Spelinspektionen) has released an assessment of its efforts to combat illegal gambling in the country.
This was part of a government order and a collaborative effort between the Spelinspektionen and the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority.
According to the 2021 National Risk Assessment of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism, the level of risk in the Swedish gaming market is classed as High.
This is due to the nature of gambling and the possibility of moving large amounts of money at once, especially through illegal sites.
As such, the Swedish Government tasked the Spelinspektionen and the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority have held several meetings throughout the year, where both authorities have focused on how they can collaborate on improving financial conditions in the country.
One of the first efforts established by the two was to form a joint work plan, which included contact points, knowledge transfer and risk identification.
In the report, the authorities explained: "Information about operators and their customers who appear in the authorities' records supervisory work may therefore be shared between the authorities, to the extent that it is relevant to the mission of the respective money laundering area."
The second point of focus was identifying how illegal gambling is enabled in the country, with the two authorities deciding on payment services.
In a statement, they said: “Experience from the Spelinspektionen's supervision shows that gambling companies that do not have a license providing games to Swedish consumers often use Swedish payment service providers for the purpose of accepting bets and paying out winnings.
“The authorities have jointly identified a number of areas where collaboration must be developed and strengthened in order for the authorities to become more efficient and carry out supervision within their respective assignments and, by extension, increase the possibilities to block payment mediation to and from illegal gaming activities.”
Finally, Spelinspektionen acknowledged that it will rely on the Financial Supervisory Authority to assist it with knowledge regarding payment markets and, in the same vein, the Financial Supervisory Authority will request that Spelinspektionen helps with gambling industry-related knowledge.
