The significant financial penalty comes after an investigation into the actions of a gambler who is suspected of embezzling millions from the private equity firm BaltCap.
A well-known casino operator in Lithuania was fined heavily for the activities of a former investment fund manager who is alleged to have embezzled millions of dollars to spend on gaming.
Sarunas Stepukonis, a former BaltCap manager who was arrested in February of last year, is one example of such.
The previous manager’s gaming activities with one operator were the subject of an inquiry that was just recently concluded by Lithuania’s gambling regulator, the Gaming Supervisory Authority (LPT).
The gambling watchdog fined Olympic Casino Group Baltija €8.4 million ($9.2 million) as a result of the thorough investigation.
The former manager of BaltCap benefited from incentives and bonuses
Stepukonis was accused of stealing over €42 million ($45.7 million), which he subsequently spent on gambling both online and offline, prompting the investigation. According to LPT, which focuses on the former manager’s gambling activities with Olympic Casino in Lithuania, his transactions began in December 2016 and lasted until the end of June 2021.
A variety of bonuses and incentives provided by Olympic Casino were a significant factor in Stepukonis’ gaming activity. The former BaltCap manager, who had a personal manager assigned to him, was allowed to switch to Olympic Casino’s online platform in Estonia even though Lithuania outlawed those perks in the middle of 2021.
This essentially made it possible for Stepukonis to keep gambling while taking advantage of various rewards.
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The director of LPT, Virginijus Dauksys, admitted that the operator did not find out whether their well-known client was experiencing problem gambling. The Financial Crime Investigation Service, the LPT, and the FNTT must be notified of any suspicious transactions by Lithuanian gaming operators.
Dauksys clarified that in the instance of Stepukonis, the previous financial manager did not notify the LPT of any questionable activities or excessive expenditures.
Stepukonis was urged to gamble instead. For him, a customized incentive package was created. The entire amount allotted for this was €1.3 million. Only gambling could be done with this “bonus.” Additional incentives were also given out,” Dauksys explained.
Five Breaches Are Caused by Formal and Ineffective Monitoring
The amount that Stepukonis spent with the Olympic Casino in Lithuania was assessed by Lithuania’s gambling watchdog to be over €6.4 million ($7 million).
The gambling operator “did not take sufficient steps to identify the origin of Sarunas Stepukonis’ losing funds, and the monitoring of his financial transactions was only formal and ineffective,” the regulator said, which is concerning.
The LPT acknowledged that those acts were in violation of the nation’s gambling rules and reported that five infractions had been found.
The regulator claims that Olympic Casino broke both the Gambling Law and the Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism.
The nation’s gambling laws were changed as a result of the lawsuit involving the former BaltCap manager.
The rules, which are anticipated to go into effect in November and are backed by the LPT, mandate that gambling establishments take action whenever they spot trends of careless gambling. Under the proposed regulations, licensees would be required to notify the LPT of such situations.
The ultimate goal of the regulatory amendments is to shield customers from harmful and excessive gambling. At the same time, gambling companies might avoid fines or regulatory action by closely adhering to the laws.
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