Court reduces penalty against Kindred’s Spooniker Ltd

The penalty was issued due to breaches of bonus rules.

Sweden.- A Swedish court has reduced a fine issued against Kindred’s Spooniker subsidiary by SEK 70m (€6.1m) to SEK 30m (€2.6m). The original fine issued by the Swedish regulator, Spelinspektionen, in 2020 was SEK 100m, but the amount had already been reduced by the Administrative Court on appeal

The fine was issued due to breaches of bonus rules that occurred in 2019. Under Sweden’s Gambling Act, operators can only offer a customer one single bonus offer on sign-up. However, Spelinspektionen found that Spooniker, whose brands include Unibet, iGame, Maria Casino, bingo.com and Storspelare, had offered tournament rewards, prize draws and loyalty promotions that represented financial incentives and could be considered as bonuses. 

Kindred said its reward mechanisms had been independently reviewed and appealed against the fine.

Court annuls injunction against Zimpler

In another legal decision against the Swedish gambling regulator, the Administrative Court has annulled an injunction issued by Spelinspektionen against Zimpler. Last July, the regulator had warned the payment provider that it would face fines as high as SEK25m if it continued to work with unlicensed gambling operators. 

Spelinspektionen said Zimpler was using Sweden’s BankID for transactions with unlicensed sites. However, Zimpler appealed, arguing that it had already announced its intention to cease such business relationships.

The Administrative Court has now ruled that Spelinspektionen did not have the grounds to make an injunction. The regulator may still take the case to the Court of Appeal in Jönköping.