Lottery betting giant loses appeal against fine in Sweden

A subsidiary of Lottoland has lost its appeal against a fine from the national regulator.

Sweden.- United Lottery Solutions (ULS), a subsidiary of Lottoland, has lost its battle at The Swedish Administrative Court in Linköping against a warning and fine imposed by the national gambling regulator, Spelinpektionen.

The regulator slapped ULS with a SEK700,000 (€69,346) fine in June last year for enabling players to bet on the results of lottery draws through its dot.se site. 

Lottoland has a licence to offer online casino and sports betting but the regulator said that it needed to have permission from the particular lottery operator in order to be able to offer betting on lottery draws. 

The Administrative Court has found in favour of the regulator, ruling that the operator needed permission from Svenska Spel to offer betting on its draws.

It also found that Lottoland had been presenting its betting product in a way that gave the impression that it organised the draws itself.

Lottoland may still appeal the decision. Svenska Spel is known to be strongly against lottery betting, arguing that it cannibalises traditional lottery revenue. Its CEO Patrik Hofbauer has called for a ban on so-called shadow lottery betting.

The Swedish Court of Appeals recently upheld a fine against Casino Cosmopol for anti-money laundering failings.

Meanwhile, Sweden’s former horseracing betting monopoly ATG has launched a lawsuit against Svenska Spel over alleged trademark infringement.