Europe

Sweden clamps down on influencers promoting illegal gambling on Twitch

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The Swedish Gambling Authority (SGA) has officially stopped influencers from promoting illegal gambling on Twitch.

A number of influencers were placed under supervision within an ongoing initiative to curb illegal gambling marketing – particularly content directed at Swedish audiences through digital platforms.

Marketing of gambling services to Swedish consumers is prohibited unless the operator holds a valid licence, as detailed in Sweden’s Gambling Act 2018. Twitch is of particular concern as it is a platform mainly used by younger audiences.

It is important to note that the SGA identified highlighted gambling amongst youths as a key focus area for regulatory oversight in its 2025 operational plan.

Now, the authority assures that those influencers who have been subject to supervision have completely ceased marketing illegal gambling.

It detailed in a statement: “The Swedish Gambling Authority’s operational plan for 2025 states that young people’s gambling and illegal gambling will be the focus of the authority’s supervision.

“The Swedish Gambling Authority will also continue to supervise influencers and other actors who conduct or promote illegal gambling under the Gambling Act.”

A global operation
The country’s clampdown on illegal activity of this kind falls in line with a growing number of jurisdictions overseas which are becoming stricter in terms of influencer marketing regulations in iGaming.

Similarly, in several regions, such as Brazil, YouTube introduced strict measures in March this year which now blocks user content that is related to illegal online gambling websites – though these policies are not isolated to Brazil, they do have a particular relevance to their developing market.

YouTube’s policy statement, as reported by SBC Noticias – BR, read: “Content that promises guaranteed returns may be removed, regardless of whether the online gambling site or app has been approved by Google.”

The UK is also closely monitoring influencer activity in the betting sector. For example, the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) recently issued a warning to Stars Interactive, operator of PokerStars, over a “socially irresponsible” advert that featured social media stars.

Swedish market situation
As Sweden continues to closely monitor illegal activity in the sector, preliminary results for the country’s gambling market have recently revealed a slight drop in Q1 turnover compared to the previous corresponding quarter.

Interestingly, licensed operators saw a total of SEK 6.6bn (£512m) being staked in the three months ending March, representing a 0.9% drop from the SEK 6.7bn in Q1 2024.

Online betting and gaming led the turnover pack with a total volume of SEK 4.3bn. This is historically the segment which customers engage the most with, averaging more than SEK 4bn throughout 2024.

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Gordon Moody makes crisis call at House of Commons

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The UK’s leading residential treatment charity Gordon Moody co-hosted a reception with Labour Party MP Chris Bloore at the House of Commons yesterday to raise awareness of the growing crisis surrounding the implementation of the research, education and treatment levy. A room full of dignitaries, industry representatives and other charities heard about the life-changing services…

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ASA raps Ladbrokes for ‘Ladbucks’ social currency ad with under-18s appeal

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The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has upheld two complaints against Ladbrokes for an advertisement that was deemed to be of strong appeal to those under the age of 18 and in breach of the BCAP and CAP Code.

The advert in question from the Entain brand featured ‘Ladbucks’, the operator’s free-to-play games currency, and was aired on TV and video-on-demand on 17 December 2024 and 23 December 2024, respectively.

Imagery of coins with the initials ‘Lb’ was shown in the advert, alongside text that said “100m LADBUCKS”, FREE BETS” and “FREE SPINS”.

A voiceover in the advert stated: “This is a Ladbuck, the new way to get rewarded at Ladbrokes, and these are some of the 100 million Ladbucks that will be dropping weekly. Collect them on our free-to-play games and choose rewards like free spins, free bets and more.

“Over 100 million Ladbucks dropping every single week. Plus, you can even use them to play your favourite games for free in our Ladbucks arcade. Like Fishin Frenzy and Goldstrike. Start collecting at Ladbrokes.com.”

Ladbrokes contests Ladbucks’ appeal to minors

The reason why it is believed the term ‘Ladbucks’ could be of strong appeal to minors is because of its similarities to the in-game currencies of ‘V-bucks’ from Fortnite and ‘Robux’ from Roblox, two games popular with under-18s.

Ladbrokes argued that Ladbucks could only be used by logged-in, verified users over 18, couldn’t be purchased, had no monetary value, expired if not used, lacked a general market value with an exchange rate, and couldn’t be universally used across all products on its website.

Additionally, the Entain brand said each eligible product or offer had a set value, which was in contrast to in-game currency products, and that the term ‘Ladbucks’ was a play on the word Ladbrokes.

The operator argued that the term ‘bucks’ is “known as a colloquialism for dollars and was widely used to refer to money or a unit of currency in many contexts, which included video games”, had no origins in youth culture, and they believed it wasn’t of inherent strong appeal to under-18s.

Ladbrokes noted that both ads “had targeting restrictions to reduce the likelihood of children viewing them” and believed the term “was not associated with any coins from videogames which were popular with under-18s”.

It was highlighted by the operator that ‘V-bucks’ from Fortnite and ‘Robux’ from Roblox were in-game currencies that had to be purchased before being used to buy in-game items, certain elements of Robux required parental consent, and the purchaser of subscription services must be over 18.

As a result, Ladbrokes said the term bucks was the only similarity between those coins and Ladbucks, adding that the rewards programme was reviewed in its entirety with a conclusion that there was no risk of the term being associated with Fortnite or Roblox.

The operator also argued that other industries use reward schemes and that using poker chip imagery was suitable for a licensed gambling operator, and so argued that there was nothing in the advert’s imagery and content that shared similarities with either of the games.

The Entain brand also mentioned that they didn’t believe the term ‘lad’ “referred to a boy or young man”, and said their brand had never been used in that context, that Clearcast didn’t believe the term ‘Ladbucks’ appealed strongly to children or that the tokens were similar to in-game currencies.

Meanwhile, the broadcaster that showed the advert on its streaming service, Channel 4, believed the advert was compliant with the code.

ASA upholds complaints

In response, the ASA believed the Ladbucks name and appearance could be of appeal to minors due to their similarities to the in-game currencies of ‘V-bucks’ from Fortnite and ‘Robux’ from Roblox and how many under 18s play video games.

The agency also stated that Ladbucks, through the suffix ‘bucks’, had strong similarities with in-game currencies Robux and V-bucks because the latter Fortnite currency is a shortened version of ‘Vindertech’ bucks, which was a fictional company in the video game, and so similarly constructed.

Regarding the term ‘lad’, the ASA disagreed with Ladbrokes and said the term ‘lad’ was a colloquial term for a boy or young man, and so in the ad’s context alongside the word buck, it would have been recognised and of appeal to some minors.

In addition, the ASA noted that the Ladbuck poker chip design has the same characteristics as the V-buck, while the Robux’s previous iteration was also of a similar appearance.

Although Ladbrokes’ position as a gambling operator was acknowledged as a reason behind the design, the ASA stated that it was not poker chip imagery in isolation, but the token’s imagery alongside the term Ladbucks that was likely to have been perceived by many under-18s as similar to video game in-game currencies that are of strong appeal to minors.

It was also noted that the use of Ladbucks in an online store and arcade was “likely to be reminiscent of the way in-game currencies Robux and V-bucks were used” and therefore increase its appeal to minors.

The ASA stated: “For those reasons, we concluded the name Ladbucks, when considered alongside the imagery and the application of the coin in the ads, was depicted in a manner which was similar to features in video games popular with children. We therefore considered the term in the ads was likely to be of strong appeal to under-18s and breached the Code.”

The agency added that the adverts must not appear again in their current form, and Ladbrokes has been told not to feature content in their adverts that has a strong appeal to under-18s or is reflective of youth culture.

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BGC: Increased gambling tax would bolster the dangerous black market

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Fears of a tax increase on online gambling in the UK loom while a new YouGov survey suggests that 65% of bettors agree that such change “would make customers turn to unregulated betting sites”.

The research was commissioned by the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), the trade and standards body for UK betting, which warns that this shift could not only fail to generate more tax revenue but also jeopardise player safety.

Furthermore, the BGC is also concerned that increased taxation would severely impact the financial health of sports, particularly horseracing, which currently receives significant funding from its members.

Undermining the regulated gambling market

UK gambling is a highly regulated sector, servicing 14 million adults (excluding the National Lottery) who gamble per month and generating £10.9bn in annual gross gambling yield (GGY).

Licensing duties see consumers protected by safer gambling rules, compliance monitoring, customer care interventions, responsible gambling tools, controls, and financial probity – UKGC.

With the government now consulting on a major change to the way betting and gaming is taxed online, fears of a price increase for betting on sports like racing and football are only on the rise.

Sporting betting and online gaming is currently taxed at different rates, but last month HM Treasury launched a new consultation which proposed a single new tax.

Describing the stats as “shocking”, BGC CEO Grainne Hurst said that these figures prove what’s at stake if the government forces through a self-defeating tax hike on ordinary punters.

“It’s clear it will not raise more tax, it simply risks forcing huge numbers of customers out of the regulated market, with its world leading standards on player safety, into the arms of the growing, illegal, unregulated and unsafe gambling black market online,” she said.

“Any tax rises would make a mockery of the Government’s growth strategy and be catastrophic for horseracing, which is already facing a bleak financial outlook.”

A wake up call
The study revealed that only 23% of punters believe a tax hike is unlikely to have an impact on customers moving towards the black market.

It is also worth noting that the argument around the potential impact of the black market is a long-running one – and one which politicians have not always been very receptive to.

Hurst continued: “This is a wake up call for the government, punters have been loud and clear, hit them with further taxes and they will walk away from sports like racing, straight to the black market, triggering a spiral of decline.”

The survey posed a scenario to customers: “Imagine that betting on sports events like horseracing became more expensive because the government increased the amount of tax that betting companies have to pay. How likely or unlikely do you think it is, if at all, that this would make customers turn to unregulated betting sites that don’t have to pay any tax at all?”

As stated above, the BGC’s main concerns are about the black market. It was only at the end of last year that the Council warned the government that unregulated black market gambling poses greater risks than perceived by British consumers.

This followed a study published by microeconomics consultancy Frontier Economics and was described as “the first major study on the black market since the publication of the previous Government’s White Paper on gambling reforms”.

The coverage and ease of promotion of illegal websites were detailed as an area of concern, as 15% (2.8 million people) of gamblers who responded to the survey said they had heard of at least one of the black market sites listed.

The BGC also revealed that 1.5 million Brits stake up to £4.3bn on the growing gambling black market annually.

The organisation concluded: “This growing, unsafe, illegal gambling black market does not contribute to sport, does not pay tax and targets customers who are vulnerable to harm, including the self-excluded.”

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Belgian regulator finds 30% of young people using illegal sportsbooks

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A recent report commissioned by the Belgian Gambling Commission (Kansspelcommissie) has revealed alarming gambling habits of young people in the country.

Looking specifically at those aged 18 to 30, the report, conducted by DataSynergy, suggests that over 25% of this group use illegal gambling websites.

Meanwhile, when considering both sports betting and games of chance, 28% of participants used illegal websites, with 8% exclusively using illegal websites and 19% using a combination of both legal and illegal platforms.

Illegal becoming ordinary
For sports betting, 30% of users played via illegal websites, whilst for games of chance, 22% of users played via illegal websites.

Meanwhile, three illegal websites are amongst the top 1011 most-used gambling sites in the country, and despite the increased minimum age for gambling to 21, one in five 18 to 20-year-olds use such platforms.

The study also confirmed that around a quarter 18- to 30-year-olds can spontaneously name at least one illegal gambling website, whilst 9% spontaneously name only illegal websites, and 16% name both legal and illegal ones.

Legislation changes
The study was conducted after a new ruling came into effect in July 2023, which imposed strict restrictions on gambling advertising in Belgium, as well as a change in September 2024, which increased the minimum age for gambling from 18 to 21 years.

Although the participation rate is lower than in 2023 (39% compared to 51%), gambling among 18 to 20-year-olds still occurs. The restrictions seem to have had a mixed effect on brand awareness, whilst illegal gambling remains a pervasive issue in the country.

Regulatory bodies in charge of market surveillance are now however maintaining increased scrutiny over new forms of betting and gambling.

Similar to England’s upcoming Premier League sponsorship ban, it is important to note that the Kansspelcommissie also announced this year that sports clubs must only accept deals with companies that do not operate gambling.

They can however still use the logo or brand name of gaming operators in some form or another, therefore the relationship between legal betting brands and sports remains close in the country.

Black market betting on the rise
Stake has been cited as one of the most widely used offshore websites in the country, being in the top 10 list without holding an active licence.

The regulator is particularly concerned about the rate of consumer awareness with Stake having doubled from 2% in 2023 to 4% in 2025. Sitting alongside these brands are 1Xbet and 22bet, Parions Sport, Winamax and Pinnacle, to name a few.

It was just last week that Belgium’s Association of Gaming Operators (BAGO) revealed that 25% of customers are on the offshore gaming market. The organisation also highlighted that 47% of all players that have self-excluded have started gambling again, this time through unlicensed channels.

Tom De Clercq, Chairman of BAGO, said at the time: “We are on a sloping plane. While licensed gambling sites are subject to strict rules, investing in responsible gaming and actively protecting players, illegal operators are given free rein.

“And that has consequences: more and more people, especially young people and vulnerable target groups, end up in an illegal circuit without rules, without control and without protection. If we do nothing, Belgium is in danger of losing control of its gambling market.”

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Dutch regulator emphasises operator collaboration for stable market

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Renske Fikkers, Head of the Regulatory Department at the Dutch gambling authority Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), has emphasised the importance of collaboration between the regulator and the operators in the country’s market in tackling key issues.

Speaking at this week’s Gaming in Holland conference, Fikkers highlighted the cooperation between operators and the regulators on matters relating to strengthening regulations, consumer protection, compliance, illegal gambling and the public’s perception of gambling.

‘Fundamental change of direction’

For consumer protection, Fikkers stated that operators should expect laws and regulations to become stricter to help protect all people from the negative effects of gambling, especially vulnerable groups. As such, a “fundamental change of direction” is taking place.

Fikkers said: “This change of direction is partly driven by the idea that current policies do not currently protect people adequately. This simply means one thing: laws and regulations will become stricter and operators’ room for manoeuvre will be further restricted.

“There is talk of raising the minimum age to 21 for high-risk gambling, and overarching deposit limits. Advertising for high-risk gambling may also be further restricted.”

Fikkers added that the point of the legal market was to provide players with a safe place to gamble, away from the illegal market, as well as make it an attractive market for operator investment.

“Operating legally has to be profitable. But politicians are increasingly backtracking on that premise, partly because of what we are seeing in your organisations.”

Duty of care and cooperation

Fikkers then spotlighted the KSA’s first duty of care fine, in which an operator was fined €734,000 for allowing young adults to “gamble away tens of thousands of euros without adequate intervention”. Advertising was added into the same bracket, with a warning issued that a total ban could occur if things don’t improve, despite it being “undesirable as far as the KSA is concerned”.

However, praise was also given to operators who have gone above and beyond the set policy rules to protect their players, as well as the industry’s cooperative attitude.

Fikkers noted that the Dutch regulator has been experimenting with roundtable discussions throughout the past year, creating conversations of “great value” but also an understanding of the obstacles seen when measures are put in place.

This is part of the KSA’s ‘regulator 2.0’ direction, moving away from a regulator that is just focused on infringements and fines, and towards becoming an open and flexible regulator that can produce solutions.

Fikkers said: “We understand that imposed measures sometimes require adaptability and that post-implementation there are obstacles or ambiguities that we could not have anticipated beforehand. Being able to have an open conversation about that helps us further strengthen our regulation.

“We also have more frequent direct contact with operators in that context. When we come across things we have questions about or are dissatisfied with, we engage immediately. I see that these talks have a lot of effect; infringements are quickly stopped and communicating openly about them sets an example for other operators as well.”

The way in which the KSA has stepped up its role in consumer protection was also brought to attention, including the setting up of an internal programme to prevent gambling-related harm, improvements to Loket Kansspel, awareness campaigns, and targeted Gokstop campaigns for Cruks Register awareness.

“In the reorganisation later this year, we will turn this gambling-related harm programme into its own, independent department, so that we can make even greater strides in player protection.”

Illegal market

Regarding the illegal market, Fikkers again made a call to operators for collaboration as it is an “undiminished high priority”.

“It is important to cooperate to battle the illegal market: the channelisation rate based on gross gambling revenue is worryingly low at 50%. For every euro spent at legal operators, one euro disappears into the pocket of illegal parties at the same time.

“Fortunately, player-based channelisation is as high as ever at 92%, but we remain keen on developments in that area.”

A new project to frustrate illegal operators’ infrastructure is going ahead, which will see techniques used by illegal parties utilised by the KSA themselves. Focus will also be placed on websites promoting illegal offers and adverts for such illegal operators on social media.

“We also cut off access to illegal gambling where possible by working more closely with service providers, for example. Because illegal gambling also simply starts with being able to deposit money. Thus, together, we are making unlicensed offers to Dutch players as unattractive as possible.

“On top of that, we are working together with the ministry to increase our possibilities to become even more effective.”

Future

Fikkers concluded by talking about the upcoming licensing round for the Dutch gambling market in 2026 and beyond, noting that an operator’s past performance will be considered in evaluations.

“With the significant steps we are now taking as an organisation, we are making every effort to better protect consumers. We will do that by looking with you at enhancing the duty of care, by making consumers aware of the dangers of gambling and better informing problem players, and by cracking down harder on the illegal market.

“By focusing on those three pillars, we are working towards a stable, safe gambling market that is worthwhile for operators but that focuses above all on the safety of Dutch players.”

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Belgian rule change fuels black market participation

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A new study has revealed that a major change to Belgium’s gambling legislation has fuelled engagement in the black market.

In September 2021, Belgium officially raised the minimum age for all forms of gambling to 21, however, the legislation appears to have had an adverse impact on thwarting the black market.

According to a report commissioned by the Belgian Association of Gaming Operators (BAGO), participation in the black market among young people aged 18-21 has risen to 65%, a 15% increase since the rule change was implemented.

Overall, the study found that one in four Belgian players access unlicensed gaming platforms, a figure that had led BAGO’s Chair, Tom De Clerq, to warn that the country “risks losing control of its gambling market”.

“We are on a slippery slope,” he said. “While licensed gambling sites are subject to strict rules, invest in responsible gaming and actively protect players, illegal operators are given free rein. And that has consequences: more and more people, especially young people and vulnerable target groups, end up in an illegal circuit without rules, without control and without protection.”

Perhaps most worryingly, the report also notes that almost half (47%) of those who had excluded themselves from gaming had begun again through illegal channels.

This highlights, according to BAGO, the danger of the black market given that it operates outside the country’s legal framework and does not offer any forms of player protection measures, such as age verification, registration to Belgium’s self-exclusion programme or deposit limits.

BAGO has attributed the rise of the black market to “intense advertising” campaigns across social media.

In light of the concerning data, BAGO’s Vice-President, Emmanuel Mewissen, reiterated the organisation’s support for a new government agreement aimed at intensifying the fight against illegal gambling and enhancing player protection in Belgium.

The new agreement focuses on three main tenets: intensifying the fight against illegal gambling, modernising Belgium’s regulatory framework and ensuring legal certainty for operators through stable and transparent legislation.

“[The agreement] should give the Gaming Commission the means to grow into a powerful regulator. This is the only way it can effectively tackle illegal providers, protect consumers and maintain a well-regulated private market,” concluded Mewissen.

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Romania approves Bill to overhaul gambling self-exclusion 

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Romania will adopt a new comprehensive self-exclusion programme designed by the reforms of the Save Romania Union (USR) Party.

On Tuesday, the USR Party claimed its ‘first victory’ in its mission to overhaul the governance of Romanian gambling, in the aftermath of auditing scandals embattling the National Gambling Office (ONJN).

The bill, authored by USR deputy Diana Stoica, was cleared by the Senate’s Legal Committee on the grounds of being a general consumer protection and addiction prevention measure. The Bill is set to be debated in full on 10 June.

“The voice of tens of thousands of addicts has been heard,” said Stoica.

“The state must stop complicity with the gambling industry and intervene firmly. We cannot treat addiction with bureaucratic indifference.”

Romania will introduce a mandatory online self-exclusion register, hosted on the ONJN website, alongside strict processing deadlines: operators must act within 24 hours, and the ONJN must update its database within 48 hours.

Crucially, the bill includes a provision for a six-month licence suspension for operators who fail to comply, a tougher framework sought by lawmakers to protect Romanian consumers. Key measures include:

Online self-exclusion through the ONJN portal

Mandatory processing times: one day for operators, two days for ONJN

48-hour refund requirement for excluded players who are allowed to bet

Minimum 12-month “cooling-off” period for indefinite self-exclusion

Public reporting on processed exclusions

Mandatory signposting to addiction support services

The bill requires ONJN to publish exclusion request statistics which represents a move toward increased transparency for an industry that has faced criticism for being unclear.

The USR reform package includes this legislative initiative as part of its broader scope. The USR party supports a second bill that proposes to establish a strict spending cap for gambling which would cap player expenditures at 10% of their reported monthly earnings.

The proposal faces postponement because Romania conducted presidential elections recently. President Nicușor Dan who won the election on 18 May has not named any senior officials or defined his regulatory approach. The absence of executive appointments has caused a delay in the parliamentary assessment of USR’s affordability bill.

Scrutiny now turns to the ONJN that has begun a new leadership tenure of president Vlad-Cristian Soare. Tasked with restoring credibility to the regulator, Soare has pledged to end political interference and prioritise consumer safeguards and market integrity.

The self-exclusion bill now moves toward Senate approval which reform advocates see as essential for Romania to achieve European standards in gambling oversight. The USR views the bill’s passage as evidence that systemic change is starting to advance after multiple years of regulatory inertia.

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Svenska Spel wins landmark legal decision against regulator fine

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Svenska Spel Sport & Casino AB has successfully challenged a SEK 100m penalty fee (approximately £7.7m) from the country’s gambling authority, Spelinspektionen, for duty of care failures.

The decision was issued by Sweden’s Administrative Court in Linköping and led to the operator calling for “greater clarity” when it comes to its duty of care interpretation.

The court emphasised that it disagreed with the assessment of Spelinspektionen based on the “legality principle”, which states that an authority may only take measures that are supported by the legal order and that it must be “sufficiently clear” what individuals must do to avoid a penalty.

Duty of care penalty

In March 2024, a warning and a penalty fee were issued to Svenska Spel by Spelinspektionen following an audit of the operator in 2021, in which the authority says the operator did not fulfil its obligations under Chapter 14, Section 1 of the Gambling Act, the supervision of duty of care.

Spelinspektionen blamed Svenska Spel for not working actively or proactively enough to protect ten customers who showed signs of potential gambling harm between 17 October and 17 December 2021, issuing a warning and a penalty fee of SEK 100m as a result.

In its appeal to the Administrative Court in Linköping, Svenska Spel argued that it did meet the requirements of Chapter 14, Section 1 of the Gambling Act, stating that it continuously monitors its customers’ gambling behaviour and has taken action to help players reduce their gambling when necessary.

The operator also claimed that since there’s nothing within the constitution that states which measures should be taken and when, its own measures should therefore “be considered sufficient when examining whether there were grounds for intervention”.

Administrative Court sides with Svenska Spel

In response, the Administrative Court has sided with Svenska Spel by taking a “legality principle” approach, stating that the authority can only take measures supported by legal order and that it must be “sufficiently clear” what must be done by individuals to avoid a penalty.

The court also highlighted the customer behaviour monitoring action undertaken by the operator.

“The court believes that the fact that the customers made large losses is primarily evidence that they have been gambling excessively. At the same time, the court notes that before, during and after the period covered by the supervision, Svenska Spel has taken several gambling liability measures against the ten customers, including certain access limitations and restrictions.”

The Administrative Court noted that while it understands Spelinspektionen’s perspective on querying if Svenska Spel took sufficient and quick enough measures to protect players from gambling harm, at the time of supervision, there were “no concrete rules and practices for licensees to follow” regarding which measures and when they should be taken to fulfil the duty of care.

“The assessment of whether it is right to intervene with a warning and a penalty fee must therefore be characterised by restrictiveness in order to be compatible with the principle of legality.

“The Administrative Court’s overall assessment is that it has not been shown that Svenska Spel has failed in its duty of care under Chapter 14, Section 1 of the Gambling Act in such a way that it constitutes grounds for intervention under Chapter 18, Section 12 of the Gambling Act. The Court has therefore decided to overturn the Gambling Authority’s decision.”

The Administrative Court’s judgment can be appealed to the Court of Appeal in Jönköping.

‘Greater clarity’

Svenska Spel has stated that it is pleased with the Administrative Court’s decision and has also called for clarification regarding the interpretation of the duty of care.

“It is gratifying that the Administrative Court upholds our appeal and overturns the decision of the Swedish Gambling Authority,” commented Fredrik Wastenson, CEO and Business Area Manager at Svenska Spel Sport & Casino AB.

“We appealed because we believe that the penalty fee is disproportionate in relation to the shortcomings and because there is a need to create greater clarity in the interpretation of the duty of care. We believe that the authority may only take measures that are supported by the legal order, the so-called principle of legality, which the court has also stated.”

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Flutter, Betsson, named latest offenders in Swedish AML probe

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Spelinspektionen has tabled a SEK 13.5m (£1m) bill to Flutter and Betsson over various AML failures breaching Swedish regulations.

In particular, the culprits this time were Flutter’s subsidiary TSG Interactive PLC, Betsson’s Nordic division, and ComeOn Group’s Snabbare Ltd.

TSG Interactive PLC
TSG Interactive is an operator licensed in Malta, who is also part of The Stars Group – which in turn is owned by Flutter Entertainment.

According to Sweden’s gambling authority, the company inhibited major shortcomings when it comes to customer due diligence and the collection of information regarding money transfers.

Spelinspektionen was not satisfied with the collected evidence of transaction assessment, which led it to believe that TSG Interactive lacked the capabilities to determine whether the sources of customer income were legitimate or posed money laundering risks.

The infringement dates back to 2023, having been uncovered through a subsequent regulatory probe in May 2024.

Sweden adopted new penalty calculations in June 2024, which were meant to impact operators significantly more by making the fee a percentage of either their turnover or gross gambling revenue.

Due to the failings taking place prior to that change, the reciprocal monetary sanction – a total of SEK 7m – was administered under the old rules, with the maximum fee amount capped at €1m (approx. SEK 10.5m) purely for AML violations.

Betsson Nordics
Similarly to the previous case, Spelinspektionen conducted a routine check into Betsson Nordics’ customer due diligence process in May 2024.

The same methodology was used as before, where 10 customers active throughout 2023 were picked based on spend and age. Spelinspektionen found that four customers aged between 20 and 24 had accumulated total deposits of between SEK 133,584 and SEK 273, 699 within the span of six months.

Four others, aged between 25 and 29, had a total deposit amount of between SEK 274,640 and SEK 491,950, again in the span of a few months.

Driven by the belief that people that age usually do not have such amounts to spend on recreational gambling, Spelinspektionen determined that Betsson Nordics should’ve classified these customers as ‘high risk’ punters – something that the operator did not do.

The outcome was the same as in the case with TSG, a sanction of SEK 6.5m due to the failures occurring before June 2024.

Snabbare Ltd
The third operator of the trio is a subsidiary of ComeOn Group. Snabbare has been ComeOn’s Sweden-specific brand since 2017, operating under a dual Swedish and Maltese license.

Again, the company exhibited insufficient due diligence procedures throughout 2023, similar to the other two on the list. Only this time, Snabbare managed to get away with the smallest sanction of SEK 5.5m.

However, the igaming operator is a recurring character on Spelinspektionen’s regulatory sanctions list. Back in 2021, it was hit with a major penalty of SEK 65m (£5m) for offering players recurring bonuses when only one-time bonuses are allowed in Sweden.

That amount was calculated based on the company’s GGR for that year, as again, the €1m maximum cap was exclusive to AML violations, unlike bonus abuse failings. But again, as of June 2024, AML sanctions are now also based on total turnover/GGR.

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