The Court of Auditors Requests Documentation from Lottery Winners

CoA has asked the State Lottery and Betting Service to identify the winners to prevent criminals from getting their hands on the money and to cancel payments for incomplete files.

SPAIN (July 29, 2024) — The Court of Auditors has urged the State Lottery and Betting Company to ask banks “without delay” for the pending documentation of the winners to prevent criminals from buying the winners’ tickets and investing the money in fraudulent businesses.

The court warns that if necessary, they should activate the reversal or cancellation of prize payments for which complete information has not been received.

Risk of winning tickets being bought

“The winning lottery tickets and betting and gaming receipts from SELAE are bearer securities. Therefore, the purpose of the control systems that I implement, especially in the payment of prizes, is to prevent people who possess funds of criminal origin from trying to collect prizes whose tickets they did not acquire, but which they have bought, after being awarded, from their legitimate owners, in order to introduce the funds of criminal origin into the financial circuit,” the report states.

16,000 incomplete files worth 759 million euros

The Court of Auditors’ report found that, in a large number of prizes, financial institutions did not send the state entity the identification documentation of the prizewinners. Between 2019 and 2022, 15,852 payment files were totally or partially missing documentation worth 759 million euros, while between 2016 and 2018, the number of incomplete files reached 24,806 for a total amount of 1,228 million euros.

The gambling regulations establish that prizes of more than 2,000 euros must be collected from certain financial institutions with which the state betting company has signed the corresponding contract.

Boosting online sales

Despite these detected problems, the report concludes that the design of the money laundering prevention system defined by State Lotteries and Betting is, in general terms, “adequate.”

Although it recommends the implementation of measures to improve compliance with the legislation, such as improving the alert systems for the Executive Service of the Commission for the Prevention of Money Laundering and Monetary Offences (SEPBLAC) to introduce warnings in the event of failure by financial institutions to submit all documentation relating to the prizewinners.

In addition, it recommends promoting sales of games through the online channel, since it is the most effective way to prevent money laundering, according to the court, and currently represents 2.8% of the total.

SOURCE: elconfidencialdigital.