Why Bookmakers and Betting Agencies are exposed to financial crime risk
The global betting landscape, encompassing online and retail bookmakers, pari-mutuel pools, boutique agencies and hybrid platforms is at the heart of highly dynamic financial flows, rapid transactional behaviour and increasingly complex regulatory expectations.
While industry growth continues at pace, so too does regulatory scrutiny of how bookmakers and betting agencies identify, measure and mitigate money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing risks.
For licensed operators, demonstrating a robust risk-based financial crime compliance framework is now a core regulatory obligation, not a box-ticking exercise. Static controls and spreadsheet-based financial crime risk assessments no longer meet the evidentiary threshold expected by supervisors, financial intelligence units or auditors.
Arctic Intelligence’s ML/TF/PF Risk and Control Assessment solution has been developed specifically for Bookmakers and Betting Agencies. It supports companies in meeting regulatory expectations, enhancing risk visibility and transforming compliance from a burden into a competitive advantage.
Why Bookmakers and Betting Agencies are targeted by organised criminal networks
Bookmakers and Betting Agencies are inherently exposed to financial crime risk for several reasons:
- High Transaction Volumes and Rapid Funds Flow: Betting involves high volumes of transactions, often occurring in real time and across multiple payment systems. These transactional patterns make it challenging to detect suspicious activity without robust, automated and risk-sensitive controls.
- Anonymity and Remote Betting: Digital and mobile betting channels create opportunities for anonymity and synthetic identities, complicating customer verification, source of funds assessments and ongoing monitoring.
- Cross-Border Activities: Bookmakers commonly serve clientele from multiple jurisdictions, each with varying AML/CTF requirements and risk profiles. Cross-border wagering increases exposure to geographic risk and sanctions compliance complexity.
- Multiple Payment Mechanisms: Credit/debit cards, e-wallets, bank transfers and cryptocurrency options create multiple pathways for funds to enter and exit the betting ecosystem, amplifying risks if not monitored through a risk-based lens.
- Third-Party Introducers and Agents: Agency networks, third-party promoters and affiliate programmes can introduce clients and funds with variable levels of verification and risk transparency.
Taken together, these features elevate the risk profile of Bookmakers and Betting Agencies, making robust ML/TF/PF risk assessment and control frameworks essential for compliance and trust.
Introducing Arctic Intelligence’s ML/TF/PF Risk and Control Module for Bookmakers and Betting Agencies
Arctic Intelligence’s Bookmakers and Betting Agencies Risk and Control Module provides a comprehensive and configurable foundation for conducting robust ML/TF/PF risk assessments tailored to this sector. This module helps you:
- Identify and Prioritise ML/TF/PF Risks: Using a sector-relevant risk taxonomy, the module guides you through identifying the highest-impact risk areas.
- Assess Controls and Operational Effectiveness: Better than static checklists, the solution enables you to map controls to risks, test their design and evaluate their performance in practice. That means you can show, with data, that your controls are working as intended.
- Calculate Residual Risk Transparently: Residual risk is the real measure of your exposure. Arctic’s module automatically aggregates risk indicators and controls effectiveness to produce defensible residual risk ratings, providing a clear link to risk appetite and governance outcomes.
- Produce Audit-Ready Documentation: Regulators increasingly focus on the why and how of risk assessments. With built-in audit trails, version history and aggregated reporting.
This solution embeds sector knowledge, regulatory best practices and global risk methodologies into a configurable, scalable risk and control platform.
The built-in audit trail, review logs and Board-ready reporting support stronger oversight and governance while making risk outcomes digestible for executives and boards.
Who does this module apply to?
The money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing risk and control module contains a library of risks, controls and control tests designed specifically for different types of Bookmakers and Betting Agencies:
| Betting Agencies | Horse Racing Betting Operators |
| Betting Shops | Wagering Service Providers |
| On-course Bookmakers | Off-course Bookmakers |
| Race Wagering Providers | Sportsbetting Providers |
| Fixed-Odds Betting Operators | Retail Betting Operators |
| Integrated Gaming Operators | Skill-Based Gaming Operators |
| Greyhound Racing Bookmakers | Tote Operators |
What does this module contain?
Enterprise-wide ML/TF/PF risk assessment, covering the following risk groups:
- Environmental Risk – covering exposure to internal and external risk indicators.
- Customer Risk – covering customer base profile, customer location risk, legal form risk, industry / occupation risk, PEP risk and customer activity risk.
- Industry Red Flag Risk – covering ML/TF/PF red flags associated with Bookmakers and Betting Agencies.
- Product and Services Risk – covering the services provided by Bookmakers and Betting Agencies that are subject to AML/CTF laws and the inherent risk characteristics of each of these.
- Channel Risk – covering face-to-face and non-face-to-face customer onboarding and transaction channels.
- Transaction Risk – covering higher risk transaction types.
- Country Risk – covering higher risk country risk exposures based on the residency, nationality or citizenship (Individuals) and country of registration, incorporation, domicile or operations (Entities).
Also included is a comprehensive library of suggested controls and control tests relevant to bookmakers and betting agencies to support the design and operational effectiveness testing of controls.
Firms can deploy the content module out-of-the-box or tailor it to their methodology, eliminating the need to start from scratch while maintaining full ownership of their risk model.
The module also includes a comprehensive library of suggested controls and control tests to support design and operational effectiveness testing.
It also allows firms to import their own risk indicators and controls or enhance the expert-built libraries to suit their bespoke risk methodology and regulatory environment.
Get started with Arctic Intelligence
Whether you are establishing your first enterprise-wide ML/TF/PF risk assessment or upgrading a legacy spreadsheet-based program, Arctic Intelligence’s Bookmakers and Betting Agencies Risk and Control Module is a scalable, defendable and configurable solution that meets the needs of modern compliance teams.
Book a demo or contact us to explore how our platform can help your business strengthen compliance, mitigate financial crime risk and build a risk program that stands up to regulatory scrutiny. Or visit our website to learn more.
