SkillOnNet, Betway & Betfair penalties upheld by Swedish court

A Swedish court has upheld three separate penalties imposed in 2019 by the national regulator against SkillOnNet, Betway and Betfair.

The fines were issued by the Spelinspektionen, the Swedish Gambling Inspectorate, for violations of licensing conditions relating to bonus provisions and underage gambling, and combined they hit a total of SEK 23.2m (£1.84m).. 

In the case of SkillOnNet, the company was handed a warning and a panelty of SEK 14m (£1.11m) on 27 June 2019 due to offering various features in violation of licence requirements. 

These included daily bonuses, monthly rewards, free spins, cashback and VIP packages. Additionally, the gambling group was criticised for organised online lotteries that are not covered by its licence.

Meanwhile, Betfair received a warning and penalty of SEK 4.5m (£357,158) penalty from the Swedish Gambling Authority on the same date as SkillOnNet for permitting betting on participants under 18 years of age.

One month earlier, Betway was issued with a similar warning, as well as a penalty fee of SEK 4.7m (£373,031) for what the Spelinspektionen described at the time as a violation of “legislation by offering their customers bonuses on repeated occasions”.

In all three cases, appeals were logged by the companies to the Swedish Administrative Court and the Court of Appeal, each being rejected by the respective authorities. 

This was followed by further pleas to the Supreme Administrative Court, which ultimately decided not to grant leave to appeal, upholding the Court of Appeal’s judgement – and therefore the penalties.