Denmark’s state-owned gambling and lottery operator Danske Spil has been fined $176k for alleged lapses in its anti-money laundering protocols.

On Wednesday, Danske Spil announced that it had agreed to pay a fine of DKK 1.2m imposed by the State Attorney for Special Economic and International Crime. The fine was related to the activities of a problem gambler who embezzled money from the insurance company at which he worked, then blew the lot with a number of gambling operators, including Danske Spil.

The gambler was a regular at Danske Spil between 2013 and 2015. The Spillemyndigheden gambling authority launched an investigation into the brouhaha in 2015 after the gambler’s embezzling ways came to light.

Danske Spil chairman Peter Gæmelke maintains that his company was paying the fine under protest, claiming that, back in 2013 when the embezzler began his losing streak, the regulator hadn’t yet offered guidance on gambling operators’ responsibilities for determining the source of their customers’ funding.