Swedish gambling regulator bans Cyprus-based “mystery boxes” operator
The platform offered lotteries where players could win mystery prizes.
Sweden.- The Swedish gambling regulator Spelinspektionen has issued another banning order against an unlicensed offshore gambling operator. It issued the order against Cyprus-based CGG Entertainment, which runs cases.gg.
CGG’s platform allows players to enter lotteries for the chance to win goods and to buy “mystery boxes” that can contain prizes. Spelinspektionen says it found that the games were being offered to Swedish players despite the company not having a Swedish gambling licence.
The regulator said it was able to access the operator’s website from a Swedish IP address, and that a Swedish flag and Swedish language text appeared when accessing the platform from the country. This would put the site in breach of Sweden’s gambling legislation, which currently requires such characteristics for a gambling site to be deemed to be targeting the country’s market.
CGG Entertainment has said that it intends to respect the ban. The regulator said: “The company states that they intend to comply with Swedish legislation and has as a measure blocked all Swedish users from the platform, as well as card payments from Sweden.”
However, the regulator said a check made after the statement was issued found that the site still contained Swedish text.
A review of Swedish gambling legislation has concluded with a recommendation that an amended Swedish Gambling Act should remove the “so-called directional criterion”. Instead, application of the Gambling Act would be based on a participant perspective, where the decisive question is whether persons who are in Sweden can participate in the gaming offer.
That would mean that in order not to be covered by the Gambling Act, online gambling companies would be required to take measures to prevent participation from Sweden, such as geoblocking.
