Evoke brand Mr Green has AML penalty reduced in Sweden

The penalty issued by the Swedish gambling authority Spelinspektionen to Malta-based igaming operator Mr Green has been reduced.

The decision was taken by the country’s Supreme Administrative Court, which ruled that there were grounds for Spelinspektionen to issue the penalty in 2021, but that the sum needed to be reduced in order to accordingly reflect the appropriate calculations. 

Mr Green was handed two penalties that amounted to SEK 31.5m (£2.35m) in total, with the Swedish gambling regulator citing various duty of care and AML shortcomings in connection with 15 different accounts on the igaming provider’s network – with some failures spanning over several years. That sum has now been reduced to SEK 12m (£900k). 

The Evoke-owned (formerly 888) brand also landed in hot water in Denmark this April, when the local regulator Spillemyndigheden concluded that there have been ‘insufficiencies’ with the firm’s internal risk assessment procedures.  

One of the failures identified in the Danish watchdog’s report was that Mr Green lacked separate risk assessments on various key operations, such as the use of payment solutions. 

An absence of planned time intervals for the assessment and management of internal controls was also identified. 

As a result, Denmark’s Spillemyndigheden gave Mr Green a deadline until 10 June to submit a revised risk assessment strategy, as well as evidence of corrected behaviour by 10 October. 

A spokesperson for Evoke told SBC News at that time: “Following a routine audit of Mr Green by the Danish regulatory, Spillemyndigheden, we have three audit findings to address. 

“We are working closely with the regulator and plan to make some minor amendments to our AML processes and accompanying documentation.”