Swedish court extends LeoVegas’ operating licence

The local gambling regulator had granted an operating licence to LeoVegas for two years, but the court ruled to extend the period.

Sweden.- Spelinspektionen, the gambling regulator from Sweden, had granted a two-year licence to LeoVegas earlier this year. However, the Administrative Court in Linköping has now changed its ruling and decided to extend the operating period from two years to five.

The regulator had only given LeoVegas an operating period of two years due to previously committed violations abroad. Not granting the operator a five-year operating licence, which is the highest the regulator can give, was part of a sanction for those violations.

Spelinspektionen said that after reading the ruling from the Linöping court it is considering appealing the judgement to the House of Appeal. That same court had already overturned its decisions in the past.

Sweden introduced a new regulatory scheme for online gambling on January 1, 2019. As part of the new rules, Spelinspektionen decided to grant shorter licences to those companies that had committed violations abroad that led to penalties.

LeoVegas had received a penalty of over €600k in the UK after the UKGC found the company guilty of misleading advertising and poor handling of customers. LeoVegas argued that shortening its licence in Sweden after just one report in the UK was unfair. “By allowing only one press release to form the basis of this decision, Spelinspektionen did not fulfil its investigative duty,” it said.