AMLA Sets EU Gambling AML Rules: Operators Face 15% Cost Rise

⏱ 3 min read

Every licensed online casino and sportsbook operating inside the European Union now faces a ticking clock. AMLA — the EU Anti-Money Laundering Authority — held its public hearing on draft Regulatory Technical Standards for the non-financial sector on 10 September 2026, and the consultation window closes on 27 September 2026. The standards will define, for the first time at EU level, exactly how supervisors must score each gambling operator's inherent money-laundering and terrorism-financing risk — a methodology that operators say will reshape compliance budgets and licensing strategy across the bloc.

Industry estimates cited by SBC News put the operational cost increase from full AMLA compliance at between 8 and 15 percent for mid-sized operators, with the heaviest burden falling on enhanced due diligence requirements for high-risk customers. The draft RTS applies under Article 40(2) of Directive (EU) 2024/1640 (AMLD 6) and is expected to become binding from 31 December 2028.

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What the RTS Covers

The draft Regulatory Technical Standards establish a harmonised methodology for assessing the inherent and residual money-laundering and terrorist-financing risk profiles of obliged entities operating in the non-financial sector across the EU's 27 member states. Gambling — both online and retail — sits explicitly within scope alongside legal services, estate agencies, and professional football clubs.

According to AMLA's own consultation documentation, supervisory bodies will use the RTS as the basis for risk classification and tiered supervision. The framework introduces a four-tier severity classification for assessing AML/CFT breaches, and the methodology has been deliberately tailored to reflect sector-specific risk profiles — with separate reporting requirements designed for gambling operators.

• Inherent risk scores will be calculated using standardised data points covering customer type, product mix, transaction volume, and geographic exposure.
• Residual risk — adjusted for internal controls — determines the supervisory intensity an operator faces.
• Smaller entities (identified by staff headcount and turnover thresholds) will be subject to a reduced reporting set focused on identifying higher-risk cases only.
• Final RTS are expected to apply from 31 December 2028, giving operators roughly two years to embed the framework.

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How Gambling Is Treated

Law firm Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer noted in its analysis of the draft RTS that gambling operators are grouped in the non-financial sector but carry a distinct risk weighting compared with most other obliged entities. Online gambling platforms are flagged as higher-risk than retail equivalents, given their cross-border customer bases and the relative anonymity of digital payment methods.

The draft also interacts with the broader EU AML Regulation (EU) 2024/1624, which became applicable in mid-2026 and introduced tighter know-your-customer and enhanced due diligence obligations directly applicable to gambling operators. The RTS would sit on top of that baseline, dictating how supervisors benchmark and score compliance performance rather than what operators must do day-to-day. On 9 September 2026, FATF simultaneously published new risk indicators specific to gaming and gambling, flagging patterns such as smurfing, matched betting across suspicious accounts, and opaque ownership structures — further tightening the international AML net around the sector.

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National Regulators Urge Participation

Several EU gaming regulators moved swiftly to encourage their licensees to engage with the consultation before the 27 September deadline.

• Sweden's Spelinspektionen urged licensed operators to respond, stating the draft RTS "will form the basis for the supervisory authorities' work on risk classification and supervision."
• The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) issued a stakeholder notice flagging the consultation as "an important legislative stage for the gaming sector."
• CySEC published an urgent call to Cyprus firms on 9 September 2026 — just one day before the AMLA public hearing — warning that the deadline leaves limited time for operators to prepare formal submissions.
• The Cyprus Gaming Commission (CGC) separately published AMLA's consultation materials on its own portal to broaden outreach to smaller licensees.

Sweden's industry body BOS had earlier submitted a response to AMLA urging proportionate sanction rules, warning that disproportionate penalties could harm compliant smaller operators.

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Operator Impact and Cost Outlook

The practical stakes for EU-licensed gambling businesses are significant. The RTS will directly influence how intensively each operator is supervised — a high inherent-risk score triggers more frequent audits, higher reporting obligations, and greater scrutiny of payment processing arrangements.

Operators holding licences in multiple EU jurisdictions face compounded exposure: the same RTS framework applies uniformly, but national supervisors retain discretion over how they deploy the methodology. A business holding a Malta MGA licence, a Swedish licence, and a German State Treaty licence simultaneously will need its compliance team to map the RTS data points across three separate supervisory relationships.

Compliance Area	Pre-RTS Position	Post-RTS Position (from Dec 2028)
Risk-score methodology	National regulator discretion	Harmonised EU-wide four-tier framework
Data points reported	Varies by jurisdiction	Standardised set; reduced set for smaller entities
Supervisory intensity	Determined locally	Driven by residual risk score under RTS
Enhanced due diligence trigger	Operator-defined thresholds	Aligned to EU AML Regulation 2024/1624 plus RTS overlay
Compliance cost uplift (mid-sized operators)	Baseline	Estimated +8–15% operational cost increase

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Key Dates at a Glance

• 13 July 2026 — AMLA launches public consultation on draft non-financial sector RTS
• 9 September 2026 — FATF publishes new gambling-specific ML/TF risk indicators
• 10 September 2026 — AMLA public hearing on the draft RTS (10:00–12:00 CEST)
• 27 September 2026 — Consultation response deadline for operators and industry bodies
• 31 December 2028 — Expected application date of finalised RTS

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Sources

Primary regulatory sources are listed first, followed by trade and legal press coverage.

The draft RTS will form the basis for the supervisory authorities' work on risk classification and supervision — operators that fail to engage now will find the rules written without their input.

— Spelinspektionen, Sweden's Gambling Inspectorate · Stakeholder Notice on AMLA Consultation, July 2026