A solution for fighting money laundering and match-fixing in Sweden

Criminals in Sweden are using betting on sports to launder money. Swedish licensed operators flagged more than 700 reports in 2020, an increase of approximately 15% from 2019.[i] The rapid growth and evolution of the global sports betting market and different offerings has increased the risk of infiltration by organized crime, using sports and sports betting to launder money. Besides laundering money through sports betting, the other side of the coin is the evolution of match-fixing. In recent years, Sweden has been rocked by one match-fixing scandal after the other. From cases in the lower football division to football on the highest level, Allsvenskan.[ii]

Despite the increase of cooperations and monitoring agreements across borders, match-fixing and money laundering are still going on and increasing.

The investigation into match-fixing, unlicensed gaming and money laundering will be presented by the Swedish Chamber of Commerce, Gunnar Larsson, and his team. The investigation will propose solutions to enable effective supervision of illegal gambling and strengthen the work against match-fixing and money laundering.

A proposed solution

If you want to fight money laundering and match-fixing, data is fundamental for a proper investigation. A proposed solution is a software system that collects data from licensed betting operators and odds from international bookmakers to investigate potential money laundering and match-fixing. By having transaction and odds data, it will be possible to detect suspicious activities earlier in the process. Setting scenarios and thresholds and scanning multiple data sources ensures maximum efficiency and creates more accurate analytics. The benefits for a system with various data sources and looking across bookmakers has many benefits:

• Scanning for suspicious behaviour 24/7
• Monitor the whole betting market
• The software makes it easy to understand and investigate suspicious activities by combining historical data and peer analysis in a comprehensive report
• Host historical data and by using artificial intelligence, the reports will become more and more accurate, reduce false positives

By collecting all the pieces and putting them in order, you will be able to see the big picture from all licensed betting operators.

For further information and questions regarding the combating of match-fixing, money laundering and illegal gambling, please do not hesitate to contact us.

[i] https://igamingbusiness.com/swedish-operators-flag-over-700-money-laundering-reports-in-2020/

[ii] https://www.reuters.com/article/soccer-sweden-matchfixing-idINKBN1O513K