Since 2019, Swiss lottery and sports betting operators have been complying with AML requirements. The compliance programme that aims to uncover suspicious activity associated with money laundering is extensive and, as will be shown in this document, complex in its implementation, requiring additional financial and human resources. In total, very few activities were detected that required communicating to the federal office in question, and the administrative load associated with the legal obligations is heavy. The Swiss legislator decided that all types of games proposed by Swiss operators must be subject to AML due diligence; some distinctions were made between the risk associated with ML and separating offline and online games.
As explained in Chapter 2, identity verification can be carried out in many ways (in-person, online, via real-time audio-visual communication, by consulting a trusted privately managed database, or by making sure that the player holds a Swiss bank account). For offline games, the legislator set low thresholds for winnings on electronic lottery games, sports and horse betting, medium thresholds for winnings on scratch cards, and higher thresholds for winnings on draw games. For online games, winning thresholds are determined not only by the amount won, but also by the proportion of money wagered on games that exceed a certain payout ratio. The amount of money deposited or withdrawn on the player’s online account was also taken into consideration by the legislator for thresholds applicable to online games.
Besides verification of the player’s identity, AML obligations require the identification of the beneficial owner who ultimately has the power to dispose of the winnings realised by the player and/or of the funds invested to acquire the game. As explained in Chapter 3, with offline winnings, identification of the beneficial owner must be done at the same time as the verification of the identity of the player. With regard to the online player, identification must be carried out, for example, where the operator knows or suspects that the player is not the beneficial owner, or if unusual behavior is detected.
As outlined in Chapter 4 and Chapter 5, Swiss operators have had to define their AML monitoring programme for business relationships and transactions and set criteria determining when they are exposed to high risks. The risk approach is also applicable in this case, as the legislator set different thresholds above which a transaction or business relationship must be considered as carrying high risks. Finally, operators have had to establish enhanced due diligence procedures for clarifying the economic background of the business relationship or transaction.