SBC News

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..