Gambling operators need to improve their anti-money-laundering (AML) risk-assessment and audit procedures, according to expert panels at the ICE VOX conference at London’s ExCel today.
Speaking on a panel dedicated to risk-based AML methods, CEO and co-founder of financial-risk consultancy Acuminor Martin Nordh said the gambling industry is 10 to 15 years behind the financial-services sector when it comes to addressing AML risk effectively.
“On a general level, the financial industry is ahead of you guys by at least ten to fifteen years, but they’re still not there yet”, he said, flagging an increasing sophistication since the launch of the European Union’s AML Directive 4 in 2017.
“In the financial industry, people have started to re-think the way they [risk-assess AML] to talk about threats”, he said, arguing that the purpose of the any risk audit is to work out “how your business can be misused and how high the risk is”.
He was also one of several panellists to emphasise the importance of making AML risk-assessment processes a day-to-day part of operations. It should not be a “one off”, he urged.
In an earlier AML session, Simion & Baciu managing partner Cosmina Simion urged operators to take a similar approach to GDPR compliance. “This is a continuous process and it’s not about putting some papers into place”, she said.
“The papers just reflect your internal processes, which you need to do on a continuous basis. You need to audit, and you need to train your people, and every time that another reproduction process or service is added to your offer, then that needs to be scrutinised”.
The importance of embedding these compliance procedures into the daily operation of the business was also highlighted by Josie Preston, head of AML and deputy MLRO at The Ritz Club, who said she had known individuals responsible for risk assessment to sugar coat their findings when reporting to the board.
“To impress the board, and not to spook the board, may be something that affects your corporate risk assessment and it’s actually a false economy, because it gives them a false sense of security”, Preston said.
“The board will then think everything is fine and dandy and won’t want to commit to resources, training, subject-matter experts, technology, and screening tools, so the threats that are there are not accurately being mitigated”, she warned.
In addition to processes, Cyprus Gaming and Casino Supervision Commission CEO Nick Tofiluk highlighted the importance of having appropriate personnel in place at a senior level of the business.
“The one thing that I think is really important is to have somebody, at executive level, that is accountable”, he said.
“So, if we were asking ‘who signed off on this? Who’s responsible for the oversight?’, with all due respect, I need to go and talk to one of the directors, and that’s really important, because if no one at the exec level owns it, the organisation generally won’t own it either”.
