EGBA members double down on payments compliance with second AML report
Members of the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) have completed their second annual report on the association’s pan-European Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Guidelines.
Launched in 2023, these guidelines provide a risk-based, practical framework made just for online gambling operators. They focus on payment issues like customer due diligence and suspicious transaction reporting.
“Together, we’re aiming to raise the bar for AML compliance standards across our members and, by example, influence other operators across the industry to do the same,” said Ekaterina Hartmann, EGBA’s Director of Legal and Regulatory Affairs.
“We encourage operators who aren’t members of EGBA to join this initiative and help strengthen the sector’s contribution to the fight against financial crime.”
This report comes ahead of plans to update the guidelines in 2026 to keep pace with new EU AML regulations coming into force.
Embedding AML into payments infrastructure
Leading online gambling operators are building AML checks right into payment systems instead of viewing them as an afterthought.
Companies like Adyen have compliance tools integrated directly with payment gateways. These systems flag unusual activity in real time, such as a string of quick deposits or cross-border transfers over $11,737 (€10,000) before the money clears.
This approach is a dynamic risk-based system in which payment types like e-wallets and crypto get higher risk scores. Behavioural analytics and machine learning track betting patterns and location changes to keep customer risk profiles up to date in line with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards.
Operators are also sharing anonymised data through intelligence networks. This allows them to spot red flags like structured deposits or rapid cash-outs and stop laundering schemes attempting to work across the industry.
This kind of coordination is a key solution, according to Ian Messenger, CEO and Founder of the Association of Certified Gaming Compliance Specialists (ACGCS), who spoke to Payment Expert earlier this year.
“The payments industry needs to move from passive service provision to active collaboration,” he said. “Cross-sector information sharing has long been a weak spot in Canada’s AML regime. That has to change—and now is the moment to do it.”
One recent example shows this in action. A pan-European casino operator connected its payment provider with an API that automatically blocks deposits over $11,737 (€10,000) until extra ID checks are done. It also flags big bets for review and routes suspicious cases to internal teams and financial authorities quickly.
In Q2 2025 alone, this system stopped about $2.11m (€1.8m) in illicit funds without creating friction for customers
While regulatory pressure is clearly driving investment in AML infrastructure, the cost of non-compliance remains high. In May, regulatory intelligence platform Vixio reported over $40.7m (€36m) in fines had been issued to European payment providers in the past year due to AML failings.
