Update June 3, 2021: The Swedish Administrative Court of Appeal has dismissed the SGA’s appeal against the April court ruling in favor of the Kindred Group.
On April 20, VegasSlotsOnline News reported that the SGA intended to appeal the Swedish Administrative Court’s decision to revoke the authority’s ruling against the Kindred Group. The SGA held that the interpretation of the court devalues the deposit limits intended to safeguard gamblers. It also argued that, based on the court’s decision, “the licensee who offers both commercial online gaming and betting can easily circumvent the deposit limits, while a licensee who only offers commercial online gaming cannot.”
Initial SGA ruling dismissed
The Kindred Group emerged victorious in its appeal against a Swedish Gambling Authority (SGA) decision that alleged that one of the gambling company’s subsidiaries broke COVID-19 pandemic deposit limit rules.
The hearing on the matter took place in the Swedish Administrative Court in Linköping, with the judges dismissing the initial SGA ruling. In a statement on Tuesday, the SGA outlined that it has the option to appeal this decision.
players were able to make deposits to an adjacent sports betting account and subsequently transfer the funds into their online casino account
Kindred’s Spooniker Ltd subsidiary and local operator ATG received SGA sanctions last December for supposedly breaking the rules over the temporary weekly deposit limit of SEK5,000 ($581.17) for online casinos. The SGA had conducted an investigation which revealed that players were able to make deposits to an adjacent sports betting account and subsequently transfer the funds into their online casino account to gamble with.
This loophole meant that Spooniker account holders could bypass the pandemic deposit limit, allowing them to deposit as much as SEK50,000 ($5,811.67) on a weekly basis and use the funds to play online casino games.
The SGA gave Kindred three weeks to rectify the issue, stating that it would fine the gambling operator SEK1m ($116,233.50) for every week that the loophole was still live.
Differences in interpretation
In response to the SGA sanction, Kindred told EGR that it had interpreted the temporary measure correctly, saying:
“It is the deposit limit set by the customer that determines his/her access to the products. However, the SGA has adopted a different interpretation that it is the actual deposits made that determines product access, which is not what is intended by the regulations.”
Kindred decided to appeal the authority’s decision and the court ultimately sided with the operator. The judges concluded that the SGA’s interpretation of the temporary regulations was not correct and proceeded to annul the gambling regulator’s initial injunction.
the limit applies to deposits at online casinos but not sportsbooks
Despite players being able to play casino games using new weekly deposits worth over SEK5,000, this did not mean Kindred violated the temporary regulations, as the limit applies to deposits at online casinos but not sportsbooks.
Kindred requires all players to set a deposit limit to comply with Swedish law.
Hard stance on operators
The Swedish government approved the cap on deposits in June 2020 amid concerns about increasing levels of online gambling during the pandemic. The move sparked uproar among licensed operators in the region, who maintained that such a restrictive measure would drive gamblers towards black-market sites.
The temporary deposit limit was initially intended to remain effective until the end of 2020, but the ongoing pandemic led the authorities to extend the measure until at least June 2021.
The SGA has a reputation for very closely monitoring operators and their actions. In February 2021, ComeOn Group brands were hit with SEK175m ($20.3m) worth of fines for offering “unauthorized bonus offers”. Betsson got fined SEK20m ($2.3m) in June 2020 for allowing customers to add funds to their accounts by using retail vouchers, while the Kindred Group incurred a SEK100m ($11.6m) penalty in March 2020 over bonus offer breaches.