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Gambling Loophole Leads to Dangerous Increase in Restaurant Casinos
By Shane Addinall Oct 21, 2020 IndustryA seemingly minor change in Sweden’s gambling legislation has opened the region up to increased money laundering and bypassed key Safer Gambling restriction. Learn how restaurant casinos are a lucrative but dangerous new trend.The Swedish Gaming Authority is known to be one of the best gambling regulators in the world. They have managed to create a fair and sustainable gambling infrastructure which benefits the licensed operator while still protecting the player from gambling harms.
Swedish Responsible Gambling
Based on extensive local research and applying best practices from international studies the Gaming Authority has gone to great lengths to ensure that all online and land-based gambling venues follow strict safe gambling protocols.
Some of these protocols include:
- Monitoring games with a short bet to outcome times and applying minimum timeframes for these
- Ensuring that casinos register their players in order to allow for the management for problem gamblers
- Ensuring that all players who self-exclude via Spelpaus.se cannot gamble anywhere until their restriction has passed
Further, all online gambling sites have a duty to ensure that all transactions abide by the country’s Anti Money Laundering (AML) regulations. This requires that players be able to justify the origin of their funds and provide all requested supporting documentation.
A Massive Blind Spot
Against the backdrop of this incredibly well run machine there has been one glaring failure in their management of AML and protecting at-risk players, the restaurant casino.
Unlike many other countries where gambling in restaurants and pubs is limited to a few slot machines stuck away in the backroom, in Sweden there have always been small casinos where you can sit and play table games.
However, the spend at these restaurant casinos has been extremely limited with blackjack hands limited to a maximum wager of €7 and bet limit at roulette tables being only €0.70 per chip.
This all changed last year when bet limits were suddenly raised with blackjack hands now capping out at €25 per hand and roulette chip values increasing to €2.50 per chip.
These increases alone would be not be considered particularly dangerous however the Swedish Gaming Inspectorate also decided to exempt these mini-casinos from AML requirements.
This means no monitoring of gambling spend, where the funds come from, and no checking that the player is not an at-risk gambler who has previously self-excluded.
And the Vultures Circle
Patrik Hobauer, CEO of Svenska Spel, has called on the Gaming Authority to urgently review this inconceivably lawless approach to regulation.
“The Swedish Gaming Inspectorate has also decided that restaurant casinos should be exempted from the regulations to counter money laundering (AML) - a regulation that applies to all other forms of casino gaming. Thus, there is no requirement at all to ask the player where the money comes from. From a money laundering point of view, restaurant casinos are not a grey area. It's a black hole.”
He claims Svenska Spel is already seeing a massive increase in investment in existing restaurant casinos and plans for the launch of additional sites as they have suddenly been recognised as a viable responsibility-free income generator.
With this single mindless piece of legislation, the Swedish Gaming Inspectorate has damaged all their efforts to restrict money laundering and protect players from gambling harms.
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