Swedish gambling regulator issues new banning order
Spelinspektionen has banned another gambling operator from targeting Swedish players.
Sweden.- The Swedish gambling regulator Spelinspektionen has issued a prohibition order against against an offshore gaming operator. It has specifically banned Yomoly Ltd from offering gambling services to Swedish players without a national licence.
The regulator claims that the company was operating illegally by providing access to online betting and casino products without authorisation. This latest prohibition order follows similar measures against Bitx Operations and Ryker BV earlier in the month.
The regulator has again warned that companies found to be Swedish Gambling Act may face penalties or legal proceedings if they continue targeting the market. It has faced some setbacks in its attempts to block unlicensed operations due the Swedish Gambling Act’s definition of how an operator should be deemed to be targeting Swedish customers. Operators must be found to use the Swedish language or offer Swedish currency. However, this looks set to change.
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.
Public benefit gambling licence rejected
In other news from Sweden, the Administrative Court has upheld Spelinspektionen’s decision to reject an application for a licence to offer gambling for public benefiti purposes. Kornhults Idrottsklubb had launched an appeal after the regulator decided in May to reject its application on the grounds that it does not conduct activities that primarily serve public benefit purposes.
According to its statutes, Kornhults Idrottsklubb’s main purpose is to promote public benefit purposes through, among other things, the practice of sports. However, the regulator found that the association has not conducted any of its own sports activities. Instead, its main activity has consisted of managing a sports field.
The fact that Kornhults Idrottsklubb financially supports another association that conducts sports activities does not mean that Kornhults Idrottsklubb conducts public benefit activities, Spelinspektionen argued. The Administrative Court shared its assessment.
