SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Spelinspektionen, Swedish gambling’s regulatory inspectorate, has warned Entertainment Laboratories (Enlabs) that it could move to revoke its licence due to a lack of activity recorded within a re-regulated Swedish marketplace.
Enlabs has been given a 1 July 2020 deadline to begin operating gaming activities in Sweden, after the regulator issued its demand.
Responding to the warning, Baltic facing Enlabs has played down the potential impacts and asserted that its operations will be in effect by the stipulated date.
George Ustinov, president and chief executive officer of Enlabs, explained: “The Swedish Gambling Authority decision to give us a warning due to inactivity was not unexpected and did not change our communicated strategy for the Swedish market. We believe the authority’s assessment is reasonable and we will offer games under our Swedish license no later than June 2020, and thus retain the license.
“In particular, I would like to emphasise that the authority’s warning only arises because we did not offer gaming operations under our license and does not entail any financial consequences. We look forward to a launch in Sweden and continue to monitor market conditions in order to seize the opportunities that arise.”
Enlabs initially gained its licence for online gambling and betting on December 17, 2018, before Sweden’s re-regulated igaming market commenced operation on January 1, 2019.
The licence, which covers a number of Enlabs brands such as bestbet.com, bestbingo.com, bestcasino.com, bestpoker.com, optibet.com, optibet.se, is valid until 31 December 2023.
“The board is very pleased that George Ustinov will lead Enlabs in the future. George has during his time in the group demonstrated the ability to quickly make and implement decisions, has solid knowledge of the Eastern European gaming markets, and possesses the leadership skills that Enlabs continues to develop,” stated Niklas Braathen, Enlabs’ chairman.
