SGA penalizes Svenska Spel and B2B software provider

Svenska Spel Receives 100m SEK Sanction due to violation of the Duty of Care

In a groundbreaking decision, the Swedish Gambling Authority (SGA) has issued a warning and a sanction fee of SEK 100,000,000 to the state-owned Svenska Spel Sport & Casino AB (Svenska Spel), for breaches in their duty of care. According to the SGA, Svenska Spel has failed to adequately implement restrictive measures and apply player access restrictions. Moreover, when measures had been implemented, they have often been executed too late.?

The SGA requested customer records for the top ten individuals who incurred the highest losses between 17 october 2021, and 17 December 2021. According to their assessment, all ten customers displayed signs of excessive gambling.?

?More specifically, inadequate and delayed actions regarding high deposit limits, substantial deposits, and significant losses have been noted. Even though Svenska Spel reduced some of the players’ thresholds, the SGA asserts that such measures should have been taken earlier. Mere messaging to customers, according to the SGA, is insufficient for protecting them against excessive gambling and assisting in reducing their habits. Furthermore, the SGA found that sending direct marketing to customers at risk was a violation of the duty of care.

The breaches were considered significant by the SGA, resulting in a warning being issued along with a sanction fee of SEK 100,000,000, equivalent to approximately 5% of the company's GGR. It is worth noting that the maximum allowable sanction fee is 10% of the GGR.

The decision includes several clarifications on how to interpret the concept of duty of care.

B2B provider hit with a warning and a sanction fee for Gambling Software Available on Unlicensed Website

Since 1 July 2023, when gambling software permits were introduced in Sweden,?it is prohibited for B2B permit holders to manufacture, supply, install or modify gambling software for anyone who does not have the necessary license under the Swedish Gambling Act. The aim is to increase channelization and combat illegal gambling.

In a recent development, the?Swedish Gambling Authority (SGA)?has for the first time issued a warning and a sanction fee of SEK 300,000 to a B2B provider, Yggdrasil Gaming Limited?(Yggdrasil), for supplying gambling software to an unlicensed operator. The SGA found that Yggdrasil was supplying gambling to an operator on the so called “blacklist”, a list including all operators who have been issued a prohibition by the regulator.?

Following the correspondence in the matter,?Yggdrasil informed the SGA that the reason behind the supply of software was a breach of contract by a reseller/aggregator. Yggdrasil also confirmed?that they had ceased all supply of software to the relevant operator.

According to the SGA’s decision, B2B permit holders bear the responsibility of ensuring compliance irrespective of contractual agreements with third parties?such as aggregators and regardless of restrictions included in the reseller contracts.?

Despite immediate actions and corrections, the SGA deemed the breaches to be substantial, leading to the issuance of a warning along with a sanction fee of SEK 300,000, corresponding to approximately 5% of the company's GGR. The maximum sanction fee permissible is 10% of the GGR.?

The black list of operators can be found here:?https://www.spelinspektionen.se/lagar--forordningar/beslut/beslut-om-forbud/

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