Swedish gambling regulator bans two gaming sites
Spelinspektionen has issued bans against luckywins.io and chilli777.com.
Sweden.- The Swedish gambling regulator Spelinspektionen continues to go after unlicensed operators that it believes are targeting Swedish players. It has issued new bans against two companies for providing games in Sweden without the necessary licence.
The latest to be band are the operators of luckywins.io and chilli777.com. Spelinspektionen said the former claimed to be operating the website under Gibraltar gaming licence number GB3451457, but that it had found that to be incorrect according to the gaming authority in Gibraltar. It said the second site is run by Mondy Game and that the operator provides no information about current licensing in any jurisdiction nor any other information about the company.
The regulator said that when checking the websites, it found that they had information in Swedish, directed marketing to Swedish consumers and did not prevent Swedish consumers from registering and creating an account.
Spelinspektionen said: “According to the Swedish Gaming Inspectorate’s strategy, we prioritise measures that contribute to gambling taking place with the players who have a Swedish gaming license.
“The Swedish Gaming Inspectorate therefore clarifies who engages in illegal online gambling by publishing decisions on bans on our website.
Last week, Spelinspektionen launched its revamped self-exclusion website. The new version of Spelpaus.se has a clearer design that aims to make it easier for players to navigate. Users can also now extend an existing self-exclusion – a feature that the regulator said many users had asked for.
The redesign was carried out with IT solutions firm Precio Fishbone over the past few months after announcing the refresh in February. Other than the ability to extend exclusions, most of the rest of the system itself remains the same for both players and operators.
Swedish gaming revenue declines quarter-on-quarter
Gaming revenue in Sweden came in at SEK6.54bn (€618m) for the first quarter of 2022. That’s a rise of 5.8 per cent year-on-year but a decline of 6.8 per cent against the previous quarter.
A year-on-year increase in revenue from land-based casinos and online gaming made up for a fall in lottery sales, but they also saw a slow quarter compared to Q4 2021. Online gambling was the biggest contributor at SEK4.20bn, up 7.2 per cent year-on-year and 0.3 per cent sequentially.
Svenska Spel generated SEK1.29bn from the national lottery and Vegas slot halls, a fall of 4.4 per cent year-on-year and 23.6 per cent sequentially. Its Casino Cosmopol land-based casinos generated SEK103m, down 28.5 per cent sequentially.
