Last week, the Swedish Gaming Inspectorate issued warnings to four licensed online casinos that they had broken the rules. In addition to the warning, the four companies received fines of millions. According to the Swedish Gaming Inspectorate, this is just the beginning, more online casinos may be fined.
Swedish casinos must pay a fine of 175 million
The news hit like a bomb among them Swedish online casinos licensed. According to the Swedish Gaming Inspectorate, the four casinos have breached their duty of care and violated the strict bonus rules that were introduced in June last year. Among other things, a company will give several thousand kronor in cash to a major player who has lost over one hundred thousand kronor.
In total, the four companies were fined a total of SEK 175 million, with Snabbare receiving the largest fine of as much as SEK 65 million.
The four casinos that were fined were:
- Casinostugan Ltd: SEK 25 million
- ComeOn Sweden Ltd: SEK 35 million
- Hajper Ltd: SEK 50 million
- Faster Ltd: SEK 65 million
However, there are more licensed casinos that may incur hefty fines, as they do not fully follow the rules. However, it was not clear which casinos were involved.
Swedish gaming license
When it comes to the Swedish gaming license, casinos that want to target Swedish players must apply for the license from The Gaming Inspectorate. This is a strict process as the Swedish Gaming Inspectorate carefully inspects all casinos to determine whether they comply with the laws and regulations that arose with the license. These laws concern, among other things, responsible gambling and marketing.
The truth is that Sweden’s gaming team is one of the strictest on the market, and it is also one of the most expensive as the bill can end up at as much as SEK 700,000. This may be one reason why the casinos without a Swedish license that are currently on the market choose not to apply for one.
Ninja Casino first to get rid of license
One of the most talked about cases in the casino industry was when the online casino Ninja Casino, from the gaming company Global Gaming, lost its gaming license. This happened in 2019 when the gaming license was still fresh. Ninja Casino, which was first granted the license, had it revoked shortly afterwards when it turned out that they did not follow the laws and regulations required by the Swedish Gaming Inspectorate. Among other things, they had violated rules regarding marketing and deposit limits.
Ninja Casino and Global Gaming, were the first to get rid of the gaming license, in addition to this, the Gaming Inspectorate had only handed out fines to gaming companies that did not follow the rules.
Online casinos that have been fined include; Bethard Group Limited – fine of SEK 2,500,000, Casinostugan Ltd – fine of SEK 3,500,000 and Zecure Gaming Limited – fine of SEK 3,500,000.
This are things that the Swedish Gaming Inspectorate examines:
- Match fixing
- Illegal gambling
- Money laundering
- Game problem
Match-fixing has to do with betting on sports and means that sports matches can be manipulated and lead to some taking home big wins or that one of the teams that play gets benefits that lead to them advancing in the game.
To prevent illegal gambling from taking place in Sweden, the Swedish Gaming Inspectorate has ensured that everyone who conducts gambling activities in Sweden has a Swedish gaming license and players without a license must not be able to operate on the Swedish market.
Money laundering means that money provided illegally, for example from illegal businesses, is used at online casinos, among other places, to avoid taxation. At online casinos, the money can turn into winnings and then be withdrawn and used.
Gambling problems were a widespread problem in Sweden, online casinos were easily accessible and there were several bonuses to take advantage of. However, this changed with the Swedish gaming license. Now players can only get one bonus and they can suspend themselves from all play for up to a year with the help of Game break – a national suspension system developed by the Swedish Gaming Inspectorate.
Summary
The Swedish gaming license is one of the stricter licenses available on the market today and even though the Swedish Gaming Inspectorate grants licenses, they continue to review online casinos to see if they really comply with all laws. In many cases, the Swedish Gaming Inspectorate issues fines to sites that have not acted, but in some cases, such as Ninja Casino (Global Gaming), the license was withdrawn completely. The latest casinos fined by the Swedish Gaming Inspectorate are Hajper, Comeon, Snabbare and Casinostugan. These four companies will together have to pay SEK 175 million. And according to the Swedish Gaming Inspectorate, there are likely to be more casinos that will be penalized in the near future.
