Swedish Court Backs Spelinspektionen’s AML Fines Against Betsson, ComeOn and Kindred

A Swedish administrative court has sided with the country’s gambling regulator in a dispute over anti-money laundering compliance, upholding penalty fees against three operators. The ruling confirms that Spelinspektionen acted within its authority when it issued fines for failures in customer due diligence.

The companies affected are Betsson, Snabbare (part of ComeOn Group) and Spooniker (a Kindred entity). The court affirmed penalties of SEK 6.5m (€589,400) for Betsson, SEK 5.5m (€498,700) for Snabbare and SEK 10m (€906,700) for Spooniker.

Regulator’s investigation and key findings

Spelinspektionen’s probe centred on how operators handled due diligence for customers aged 18–29, specifically the 50 individuals with the highest cumulative deposits during 2023. Investigators concluded that the firms failed to adequately verify the source of funds when deposit patterns did not match declared taxable income.

One illustrative case cited by the regulator involved a Betsson customer who made 163 deposits worth SEK 491,950 between September and December 2023, despite reporting an annual net income of only SEK 310,000. The player’s risk classification remained low to medium throughout, and Spelinspektionen argued that Betsson had not properly investigated the origin of the funds.

Operators’ challenges and court response

The three licensees had contested the regulator’s interpretation of AML rules since the fines were first announced in May 2025. Betsson in particular argued that Spelinspektionen applied an overly narrow view of how to verify funds, and that the sanctions were disproportionate, violated equal treatment principles, and contradicted prior court precedent and AML guidance. The company maintained that any breaches were neither systematic nor serious.

Operators also claimed that the suspicious deposits could be explained by prior gambling winnings, but the court rejected this defence, noting that the source of those winnings had not been properly verified in line with legal requirements.

After reviewing the cases, the court determined that all three companies had fallen short of Sweden’s AML standards for monitoring and verifying customer transactions. The ruling upholds the regulator’s position that the breaches warranted both warnings and financial penalties.