SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The Swedish Supreme Court has delivered a final ruling in a long-running legal dispute, ordering Betsson AB subsidiary, BML Group Ltd, to repay €500,000 to a former customer.
In detail, one of Betsson’s customers had reportedly spent a total of €15m (£12.9m) on online slots, and lost approximately €727,000 of this. After this, despite the operator being aware of the customer’s vulnerability, Betsson continued to send them gambling advertising and marketing.
The Court’s decision affirmed a judgment issued by the Patent and Market Court of Appeal in December 2023, marking the conclusion of a case that has attracted industry attention due to its potential implications for historical gambling practices in the country.
This is because the case concerns gambling-related activities that occurred between 2009 and 2014, well before Sweden’s current gambling legislation came into effect.
A new system
At the time of the disputed transactions, Sweden had not yet adopted its modern Gambling Act, which came into force in 2019. The new law set up a licensing system and stronger rules to protect players, changing how online gambling was regulated in Sweden.
Despite the Supreme Court ruling in favor of the former customer, Betsson’s CEO, Pontus Lindwall, emphasised the company does not expect the outcome to have significant financial impact on its overall operations and financial performance.
The operator’s recent Q1 report further proves the group’s current financial stability, where revenue increased by 18% year-on-year (Q1 ‘24: €248.2m) to reach €293.7m in the first three months of 2025. The group closed the same period with an additional net income of €48.4m.
“This ruling concerns activities that occurred more than a decade ago, under very different regulatory conditions,” Lindwall said. “We remain fully committed to maintaining the highest standards of responsible gaming and regulatory compliance across all our markets.”
Player safety
Betsson continues to operate under a Swedish license regulated by Sweden’s Gambling Authority (Spelinspektionen) and has invested heavily in responsible gaming measures in recent years.
In fact, in the second half of last year, nearly 18.7% of Betsson’s contacted customers opted into a self-exclusion scheme – a significant increase compared to others (1-4%) in Sweden.
General political pressure on the industry, both in Sweden and further afield, has led to many other operators investing in similar measures and policies.
Betsson says on its website: “On a regular basis, our depositing customers receive an email promoting our Responsible Gaming tools. Customers are encouraged to learn more about these features and to set deposit limits.”
The latest ruling underscores the risks that are associated with pre-regulation gambling operations and potentially opens the door for similar claims in the future.
