Court orders Spelinspektionen to dismiss indictment of Zimpler AB

Payments provider Zimpler AB has had a partial ban against it overturned by the Swedish Court of Appeal. 

In July 2023, the company was officially warned by the Swedish gambling regulator, Spelinspektionen, that it might be facing a fine of SEK 25m (€2.2m).

Zimpler AB, while authorised by Sweden’s Financial Supervisory Authority, was accused by Spelinspektionen of providing BankID-enabled payment processing services to igaming operators that were not licensed by the gambling authority. 

BankID is a compulsory electronic ID requirement that Swedish banks must comply with for customer protection reasons. 

Spelinspektionen’s investigation into the matter was launched after an ‘anonymous tip-off’ brought up Zimpler’s alleged breach, with the regulator concluding that there is sufficient evidence to raise cause for concern.

Later that year, the payments firm announced that it will appeal the regulator’s decision with the argument that it has been reached based on a single anonymous account, and without adequate consideration of Zimpler’s ongoing compliance with then-new foreign operator laws.

In 2024, the Swedish Administrative Court ruled in favour of that appeal, stating that Spelinspektionen had no reasonable grounds to issue the injunction and that the decision should henceforth be overturned. 

Spelinspektionen in turn appealed the ruling, bringing the case to the Swedish Court of Appeal for a final review. A similar conclusion was reached there, with the regulator’s appeal officially dismissed. 

“It is undisputed that Zimpler has provided its payment service solution to various gambling operators that offer online gambling and that among these there are those that do not have a license under the Gambling Act,” the Court of Appeal’s statement read. 

“The Court of Appeal finds that all provision of gambling by gambling companies that do not have a Swedish license is not prohibited under the Gambling Act…The Gambling Act

and its preparatory work lacks further specifics regarding what is required for a gambling company to be considered to be aimed at Sweden. 

“The Swedish Gambling Authority has not shown that there was illegal gambling, nor that Zimpler has promoted such. The appeal should therefore be dismissed.”