William Hill Unhappy With Mr. Green’s Regulatory Failures In Sweden

William Hill is one of the biggest and most popular gambling brands in the UK. William Hill owns a number of online gambling brands, one of which is Mr. Green. William Hill purchased Mr. Green in the first part of 2019 after completed a £242 million deal. Mr. Green has a strong presence in the European and Scandinavian betting markets.

Mr. Green made news this week after reports emerged that Sweden’s gambling regulator had issued a hefty fine. Spelinspektionen imposed a fine that was the equivalent of $3.6 million (SEK31.5 million) for a number of serious gambling violations. William Hill said it was unhappy to see Mr. Green fall short of the high gambling standards in Sweden shed more light on what Mr. Green is doing to see that it does not repeat such violations.

The heavy fine on Mr. Green will also send a strong message to other licensed iGaming operators in Sweden.

Mr. Green Violations In Sweden

Mr. Green’s violations were mainly during the period from January 2019 to June 2020. The investigation revealed that over 15 customers displayed warning signs of problem gambling and money-laundering behaviour but Mr. Green took no action to protect its players or ensure that no money laundering was taking place.

Spelinspektionen is aware that criminals are looking to use online casinos in Sweden to launder the money they earned from illegal activities, making their finances difficult to trace. Swedish authorities have been cracking down hard on money laundering operations and have instructed licensed casino operators to strictly implement AML laws but Mr. Green failed in this regard.

The fine was divided into two parts. The first one is a SEK30 million fine for failing to protect its players and another fine of SEK1.5 million for anti-money laundering mistakes.

Mr. Green Makes Changes

The MD for William Hill International and Mr. Green, Patrick Jonker said he was very disappointed with the findings and penalties. He insists that Mr. Green has always prioritized protecting players from themselves and that Mr. Green has high regard for complying with gaming regulations in all jurisdictions where it operates.

Jonker said that Mr. Green has taken steps to clean up its operations and has invested both time and money to address all of the shortcomings highlighted by Spelinspektionen.

Mr. Green has since modified its problem gambling response protocols while also improving its anti-money laundering and risk assessment procedures. The online operator has also beefed up its anti-money laundering investigators to ensure that these violations do not take place again in Sweden.