Swedish Court Confirms AML Penalties for Betsson, Snabbare, and Spooniker

A Swedish administrative court has backed the country’s gambling regulator in its case against three operators, ruling that they committed serious breaches of anti‑money laundering rules. The decision means that penalties issued against Betsson Nordic Ltd, Snabbare Ltd, and Spooniker Ltd will stand.

The court agreed with Spelinspektionen’s findings that the companies failed to meet required standards for customer due diligence. Regulators said the operators did not carry out proper checks or monitoring of their customers, falling short of Sweden’s anti‑money laundering framework.

In its announcement, Spelinspektionen noted that the court found enough grounds to uphold both the warnings and the financial penalties first imposed in May 2025.

Over SEK 20 million in fines

The court’s ruling leaves the three operators facing combined fines of more than SEK 20 million. Betsson was ordered to pay SEK 6.5 million after regulators found it relied too heavily on past winnings to justify large deposits from younger, high‑risk players.

Instead of verifying external sources of funds, the company relied on automated reports and spending averages, which the regulator said did not meet anti-money-laundering standards.

Snabbare was ordered to pay SEK 5.5 million. Its case involved ten customers who deposited between SEK 950,000 and SEK 3.2 million each. Regulators said the company failed to properly document why such deposits were accepted and relied too heavily on automated monitoring.

Snabbare argued that its risk‑based approach was consistent with AML rules and pointed to 139 manual checks and a report filed with Sweden’s Financial Police, but the court found its measures insufficient.

Spooniker received the largest fine, SEK 10 million, for failings linked to five customers. The company had already been warned in 2022 for similar shortcomings, and the court noted that the repeat nature of the breaches justified the heavier penalty.

Betsson and Snabbare argued that lapses were not systematic

During their appeals, both Betsson and Snabbare pushed back against the regulator’s conclusions, insisting that the shortcomings identified were isolated and not part of a wider pattern.

Betsson told the court that “Betsson’s possible violations have neither been systematic nor serious,” and asked that the penalty be cancelled or at least reduced. The company also argued that Spelinspektionen’s interpretation of the rules went beyond what the money‑laundering framework, earlier case law, and EU guidance required.

While the court accepted that the breaches were not systematic, it rejected the claim that they were minor and upheld the fine.

Snabbare made similar arguments, stressing that “Neither the number of alleged breaches nor their nature supports the conclusion that any shortcomings were systematic.” The court again agreed only in part, saying the small number of customers reviewed meant the lapses were not systematic, but it still found them serious enough to warrant the penalty.

Snabbare even claimed that encouraging players to withdraw winnings was itself a risk‑reducing measure, but the court dismissed that reasoning.

Spooniker also disputed the regulator’s stance, telling the court: “The threshold for intervention has not been reached. These are neither serious, systematic, nor repeated failings.”

The judges disagreed, noting that the company had already been warned for similar issues in 2022 and treating the new breaches as repeated rather than one‑off.

Swedish Court Confirms AML Penalties for Betsson, Snabbare, and Spooniker

Over SEK 20 million in fines

Betsson and Snabbare argued that lapses were not systematic

Comments