Adm official says EU AML package brings historic reform for gambling

Stella Liberato, an official in the controls office of Italy's ADM (Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli), told the anti-money-laundering forum in Milan on 22 October that the EU anti-money-laundering package represents a historic reform for the gambling sector. According to Liberato, the reform has historic scope for the agency, which handles regulation and controls on gambling, and its action will be effective in full cooperation with other sector authorities.

Liberato said gambling remains an area of maximum attention for European and Italian legislators because it is particularly exposed to money-laundering risk: transactions are fragmented, anonymous instruments are easy to use, and wins or bets are often simulated. She said gambling in all its forms, retail, online, casino or machines, carries this exposure. She added that for the first time the gambling sector will be regulated at European level, allowing harmonisation and an end to national fragmentation. She said Italy is among the countries that, despite a high money-laundering risk in Financial Action Task Force assessments, have rules and a risk-mitigation framework considered adequate, as the Bank of Italy has also noted.

On the legislative process, Liberato said Italy is in the phase of transposing the sixth anti-money-laundering directive and that ADM is working with other competent authorities on the draft implementing decree. She spoke in place of the office head, Luca Turchi.

Liberato said the regulation and directive strengthen supervisors' powers, increase operators' obligations, reinforce investigative capacity, improve traceability of flows and significantly increase controls in depth and breadth. Supervision of the non-financial sector is effectively placed on the same level as supervision of the financial sector, such as banks and intermediaries. ADM will gain the power to assess the suitability of concessionaires' board members, who must meet integrity and professional requirements. Liberato said the power involves considerable intervention by authorities but is justified by the aim of ensuring concessionaires are managed only by suitable persons.

The package provides for a beneficial ownership register containing the natural persons behind fundamental decisions, which Liberato said will let authorities identify and analyse international corporate groups, concessionaires with foreign funds and multi-level structures beyond national borders. Customer due diligence (KYC) will be strengthened and concessionaires must update their procedures promptly. Supervisory authorities will have access to a broader information base on financial movements, making flows easier to reconstruct. Liberato said the European legislator also addressed cryptocurrencies to prevent alternative or anomalous instruments from facilitating money laundering, particularly in gambling.

For all obliged entities, including gambling concessionaires, Liberato said the sanctions regime will be tightened considerably. Sanctions must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive and will no longer be limited to financial penalties but may include publication of measures or removal of board members. She said this will have a strong reputational impact and may affect operators' continued presence in the market.