Supervisory proceedings by the Swedish regulator unveiled that superb.bet, a website owned by Greece-based operator WinBet, had been targeting Swedish customers unlawfully.
This conclusion was based on a number of observations. Firstly, Spelinspektionen noted that the website included Swedish text alongside the option to use Swedish krona for deposits.
Secondly, no visible markers indicated that customers on a Swedish IP address were prevented from opening and operating an account on the website.
Greek licence holder WinBet was contacted for a comment by the Swedish Gambling Authority, but no such was received by the time the ban was publicly announced.
Swedish law dictates that the Gambling Act is relevant to all online gambling providers when their games are considered as targeting Swedish customers, regardless of whether these companies are operating from abroad.
“Circumstances of significance may be that the website contains Swedish text or offers deposits and winnings in Swedish currency,” Spelinspektionen reminded, as is the case with superb.bet.
“The Swedish gambling authority therefore decides to prohibit WinBet NV from providing games in Sweden. The decision shall therefore apply immediately.”
Not a precedent
The full power of the Swedish regulatory rulebook was recently felt by Cyprus licensee ASG 360 Services Ltd as well, when the gambling authority concluded that the operator had been targeting Swedish consumers in a similar manner.
This time however, the ASG-operated domains listed as illegal were around 20, with the most prominent of them being GG.Bet.
In the grand scheme of things, offshore companies registered in the EU pose a significant problem for Spelinspektionen. A recent study by the regulator found that around 13% of Sweden’s online traffic in 2024 was directed to EU-based unlicensed gambling websites.
More significant perhaps is the prominence of black market companies operating far away from EU shores. As part of the same study, Spelinspektionen revealed that 45% of all online traffic towards unlicensed services targeted companies in ‘third countries’. The bulk of that (38%) was directed at Curaçao-based entities.
Power struggle
But besides external threats, the regulator is also currently dealing with internal reviews of its capabilities and how to expand them more efficiently against illegal operators.
Last year, Sweden’s Audit Office said that Spelinspektionen’s monitoring work has been “less effective than desirable” since Sweden’s betting market was re-launched in 2019, prompting the above-mentioned review of the authority’s operational efficiency.
Talks are now in motion to discuss a potential overhaul of the Swedish Gambling Act so that Spelinspektonen’s authority is expanded to new horizons, with the final assessment due to be published no later than 17 September.
