Swedish gambling regulator fines two licensed providers for non-compliance
Spelinspektionen says the game providers supplied software to unlicensed operators.
Sweden.- The Swedish gambling regulator Spelinspektionen has issued warnings and penalty fees against two gaming providers for non-compliance with its prohibition on supplying unlicensed operators.
It issued a penalty of SEK 60,000 (€5,400) to Kalamba Games for providing gaming software to operators who lacked Swedish licences.
Kalamba Games was granted a five-year Swedish gaming supplier permit in April 2024, allowing it to manufacture, provide, install and modify gaming software under the Gaming Act. Spelinspektionen says that on May 9 it inspected a number of selected websites operated by operators who are prohibited from operating games in Sweden and found that Kalamba was a game provider to operators who lacked a licence and had a prohibition order in accordance with Chapter 18, Section 23 of the Gaming Act.
It therefore initiated supervision. Since then, the provider has taken corrective action and is no longer manufacturing, providing software to operators without the necessary licence, the regulator said. Kalamba said that by geoblocking games for Swedish IP addresses, it considered that it was within the framework of regulatory compliance since it is an industry standard in other regulated markets.
Meanwhile, Quickspin has received a warning and a sanction fee of SEK 650,000. The provider has had a supplier licence in Sweden since April 2023. Again, the regulator inspected certain unlicensed sites and found the provider’s games present.
Quickspin said the compliance breach was the result of games provided via content partners. It has since taken corrective action.
Proposed Swedish Gambling Act amendments
Investigator Marcus Isgren has proposed amendments to the Swedish Gambling Act to remove the “so-called directional criterion”, under which only online games specifically aimed at the Swedish market are covered by the law. Under Isgren’s proposal, instead of focusing on whether an online game is aimed at Sweden, the scope of 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 appropriate and effective measures to prevent participation from Sweden”, such as geoblocking.
