William Hill Swedish subsidiaries ordered to pay fines on reporting failures

Spelinspektionen – Sweden’s Gambling Inspectorate – has notified that the William Hill subsidiaries of Evoke Gaming and Mr Green Limited have received fines totalling SEK 1.45 million (€140K).

The fines concern the subsidiaries failure to match the inspectorate’s standards on key operator reporting duties.

“The companies have for a long time had shortcomings in their reporting and what has been reported has subsequently proved to be incorrect.” – read the Inspectorate’s notice.

In 2021, Spelinspektionen had placed Mr Green and Evoke Gaming under ‘technical supervision’ –  as the operators had failed to submit suitable interim reports that all Swedish online gambling licence holders require.   

A core directive of Sweden’s relaunched gambling marketplace in 2019, interim reports are used by Spelinspektionen to inform the Swedish government and wider authorities of market activities with regards to operator conduct, financial crime, safer gambling and customer care duties.

Both Mr Green and Evoke Gaming, the subsidiary which maintains the WilliamHill.se licence, acknowledged that it had been unable to provide Spelinspektionen with all relevant information due to ‘technical difficulties’ adjusting to new market commands. 

Placed under supervision, Mr Green and Evoke would resubmit their interim reports. However, the inspectorate determined them to have ‘technical errors’ that presented ‘differing interpretations on key data’.  

Following 2019’s re-organisation of Sweden’s online gambling marketplace, Evoke Gaming admitted to technical struggles adjusting to the compliance demands of the new regime.

Last year, Evoke Gaming was ordered to review all 2019 customer accounts on its network of WilliamHill.se, Bertil, Mama Mia Bingo and Vinnarum – as the brands were deemed to have allowed players to ‘self confirm’ their ID verifications.

Further Swedish market headwinds for William Hill, saw Mr Green lose its appeal to contest a SEK 30 million (€3m) penalty by Spelinspektionen for failure to maintain market standards on customer care and AML duties.

The Court of Linköping deemed Spelinspektionen fine to be ‘fair and proportionate’ as Mr Green had infringed on the terms of the Swedish Money Laundering Act, compliance with which is a key licence holder requirement.