Swedish regulator appeals penalty reduction

The gambling regulator from Sweden has appealed the reduction of the penalty for Casino Cosmopol.

Sweden.- Spelinspektionen, Sweden’s gambling regulator, is appealing a penalty reduction for Casino Cosmopol. The regulator set a penalty fee of €776k last year, but an administrative court decided to reduce the penalty.

The Swedish regulator found in November 2018 that Casino Cosmopol had committed systematic violations of money laundering regulations. As part of the penalties, it set a €776k fine, but the court decided to reduce the penalty to €278k. The reduction comes despite the court sharing the regulator’s assessment that the company was guilty of serious and systematic violations of the regulations.

“The regulator doesn’t consider that the reduction is justified. It’s also unclear from the judgement of the administrative court why it chose to reduce the penalty fee. The authority has therefore chosen to appeal the judgement to the Administrative Court of Appeal in Jönköping,” said Spelinspektionen.

Casino Cosmopol’s appeal

Back in November 2018, the Svenska Spel subsidiary argued that as there wasn’t a clear framework providing guidance to operators in the country, the penalty wasn’t accurate.

“We appeal to the decision mainly because…in this situation it’s not proportional to decide on a penalty. In the absence of clear regulations and guidance from the regulator, it can not be considered correct to decide on a penalty,” said the CEO of Casino Cosmopol last year.