LeoVegas to Further Strengthen its Legal and Compliance Team
On the back of a £600,000 fine from the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC), Swedish operator LeoVegas is taking action to protect itself from more legal issues.
Online casino operator LeoVegas has begun the search for a specialist to fill a newly created role as part of its Legal and Compliance Team. The position, Chief Compliance & Legal Officer, will take responsibility for the company’s relationships with authorities and licensors, and take the lead in developing and managing the daily legal requirements.
While LeoVegas searches for a permanent recruit, it has appointed Attorney, Anders Fast, to fill the role on a temporary basis. Fast is also a Managing Partner at the Stockholm office of law firm, Baker McKenzie, and brings LeoVegas 20 years of legal experience.
In a phase in which the industry is maturing and focus on compliance is rising, at the same time that our regulated revenue is growing sharply, the timing is now right to put a CCLO role in place. – Gustaf Hagman, Group CEO
Hagman continued, “I am very happy that Anders will take on the CCLO role until we have found the right person long term. Anders has served as a legal adviser to LeoVegas since the start and knows the industry inside and out, which gives him a head start. Our focus on compliance is a prerequisite for us in our work on reaching our financial targets for 2020 and thereby achieving sustainable and long-term strong growth.”
Alongside the new role creation, LeoVegas is also improving its focus on compliance throughout the entire company, with training for all employees in the organisation and more legal expansion in other teams.
The focus on legal requirements and compliance follows the £600,000 fine that the UKGC charged to LeoVegas in May. According to the UKGC, an investigation found that over 11,000 LeoVegas players that had opted into the self-exclusion program did not get their money back from the operator when closing their accounts.
The ripple effect from the hefty fine has also seen the company appoint a new CFO in May, as well as a new COO and Deputy CEO in July.
