Swedish regulator fines four igaming operators over bonuses

Spelinspektionen issued penalties and warnings for unauthorised bonuses.

Sweden.- The Swedish Gaming Authority, Spelinspektionen, has issued fines and warnings to four igaming operators for breaching regulations on bonusing.

According to Sweden’s current regulations, gaming operators can only offer customers a bonus when they first sign up, but Spelinspektionen found that the four operators had offered bonuses on repeat occasions.

It’s issued financial penalities of SEK25m (€2.49m) to Casinostugan, SEK35m to ComeOn Sweden, SEK50m to Hajper and SEK65m to Snabbare.

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A random sample of player accounts carried out by the regulator found that Casinstugan had given one player SEK21,000 in bonus funds, in addition to free spins for online slots.

It found that ComeOn had given a sample player SEK40,000 in bonus funds and that Hajper’s had given one player SEK7,400 and free bets and another player SEK13,500.

Snabbare was found to have given one player SEK6,950 in bonus funds and free spins to another player.

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Spelinspektionen said the size of each operator’s penalty depends on the seriousness and duration of the regulatory violation and the operator’s turnover, the latter having the largest impact in these four similar cases.

It said that such violations may result in operators’ licences being revoked if they do not heed the warnings.