Europe

Three operators have had their appeals against penalty fees issued by the Swedish Gambling Authority, Spelinspektionen, rejected by the Administrative Court after a review.

A decision to uphold penalty fees given to Betsson, Snabbare and Spooniker was announced today by Spelinspektionen, who announced that the Administrative Court agreed with its view that the companies “committed serious violations of the money laundering regulations through insufficient customer due diligence measures”.

All penalty fees were handed out back in May 2025 for anti-money laundering (AML) failings.

Betsson was issued with a warning as well as a SEK6.5 million (£502k) fine.

Spelinspektionen selected customers to review based on a list of the 50 customers aged 18-29 who made the largest total deposits between 1 January-31 December 2023.

It found that the operators had failed to adequately identify the source of income for large deposits that could not be justified by the consumers’ taxable income.

I..

Michel Groothuizen, Chair of the Netherlands gambling authority, is urging Dutch legislators to make sure regulations are not turned into an ‘income policy’ when it comes to the country’s gambling market.

Groothuizen has also issued a proposal to protect the most vulnerable in the country, asking for all people who are registered in the central curatorship and administration register (CCBR) to be included in the Netherlands’ gambling exclusion register, Cruks.

Income policy

In a blog post on the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) website, Groothuizen explored the current landscape of iGaming and sports betting in the Netherlands.

The KSA Chair noted that gambling ‘increasing normalisation and the ease with which you can gamble anywhere, anytime’, leads to concern, as ‘you can get yourself into considerably large financial trouble in a short amount of time’, whether it be with a legal or illegal operator, given how accessible it now is with the presence of smartphones.

However, he emphasised..

The European Casino Association (ECA) is calling for an urgent expansion in the remit of Europol to tackle the surge of the illegal gambling sector in Europe.

At a recent roundtable event in the European Parliament, ECA Chair Erwin van Lambaart shared a report that the illegal online gambling market aimed at European Union (EU) consumers increased by around 14% year-on-year to €91.6bn (2024: €80m).

The data comes fresh off the European Commission‘s (EC) proposal to reform the mandate of Europol and elevate its data capabilities and remit when it comes to tackling cross-border crime.

As part of the reform proposed by the EC, Europol will push towards more operational capabilities, with its remit being expanded to include bringing down the illegal gambling sector.

MEP Lukas Mandl stated: “Illegal online gambling is not a niche issue, it is a serious cross-border threat that touches on consumer protection, organised crime and the integrity of our internal market.

“Europol is a cru..

From 2026, Croatia will double the amount of funding generated by the country’s gambling sector for social and public interest programmes.

The announcement comes directly from Chief State Treasurer Danijela Stepić, who confirmed that her office has been allocated €214m to distribute to public programmes.

The figure represents a significant increase from the approximately €130m made available under the previous funding cycle.

Speaking at a conference hosted by the Ministry of Finance, Stepić outlined how the funds will be distributed under the government’s annual “Regulation on the Criteria for the Distribution of Revenues from Games of Chance.”

Plenkovic wants a ‘civil approach’ to gambling

The mandate forms part of the wider reforms carried out by the Democratic Union (HDZ) government during 2025 and 2026 to overhaul Croatia’s gambling laws and regulatory framework.

Winning a third consecutive term in office in 2024, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković fast-tracked amendments to the..

As Estonia prepares to review its gambling act next year, data has revealed that the country’s self-exclusion list has grown over the past three years by almost 4,000 people.

According to local outlet ERR News, nearly 21,000 people are now on the self-imposed gambling restriction list, up from 2023’s count of 17,203 people. The data further split the restrictions in place by game product, but it is important to note that one person may restrict themselves from multiple verticals.

A person’s written application will determine if they’re added to the self-exclusion list indefinitely, and they must specify a period, six months to three years, after which they may submit a new application to be removed from the list.

20,628 people are restricted in Estonia from games of chance, while 9,767 people have self-imposed sports betting restrictions, which is up by 348 people since the beginning of the year. For lottery products, 5,968 people have restrictions in place.

Measures must be implem..

The ADM, Italy’s Customs and Monopolies Agency, will launch a new central complaints portal for online gambling disputes on 10 September.

The launch of the new portal was announced by the ADM on 3 August, as the agency completes a further directive of the reorganisation of Italy’s online gambling sector, focused on strengthening consumer protection and player safety.

Named the “Portale delle segnalazioni”, the ADM has created a central system to track disputes between customers and licensed online gambling operators.

Under the new requirements, operators have 72 working hours to respond to a customer complaint, with the period calculated according to working days and excluding public holidays.

Should a customer fail to reach a resolution or believe that the response provided by the operator is unsatisfactory, they will be able to escalate the matter for review by the ADM.

Users of the portal must register complaints using SPID or Italy’s electronic identity card (CIE) and provide ..