EU AMLA opens consultation on gambling risk supervision until September 27

The European Union’s Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) has opened a consultation on draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) that will shape how gambling operators are risk-classified and supervised for money laundering and terrorist financing. For licensed PSPs and operators, the point is simple: these standards will influence how national regulators apply AML rules to both online and retail gambling.

1. AMLA is inviting licensed gambling operators in the bloc to comment on the consultation, which runs until September 27. The draft RTS cover risk profiling and risk-based supervision for obligated entities in the non-financial sector.
2. The text is not limited to gambling. It also applies to real estate financing, the online sale of luxury goods, art and antiques, and legal advisory payments. In other words, AMLA is building a framework that reaches several high-risk sectors at once, not a gambling-only rulebook.
3. AMLA says supervisory obligations designed for banks cannot simply be copied into non-financial industries. It is looking for feedback on sector-specific rules so that compliance requirements do not become disproportionate, especially for smaller businesses and for implementation costs.
4. The authority was established this year to strengthen cooperation among EU member states against money laundering and financial crime. Gambling licences remain under national jurisdiction, but AMLA wants harmonised RTS and supervisory guidelines so national regulators apply anti-money-laundering rules through shared risk-based principles.
5. Sweden’s gambling regulator, Spelinspektionen, has already urged its licensed operators to participate. It said the draft RTS “will form the basis for the supervisory authorities’ work on risk classification and supervision,” and more consultations are expected later in the year.

For high-risk operators, the practical issue is not the headline about consultation. It is whether the eventual RTS create a common supervisory baseline across EU member states, or just another layer of reporting that every national authority interprets a little differently. AMLA is clearly aiming for the first version.