Betsson penalized
Svenska Dagbladet has revealed the Swedish Supreme Court has ordered Stockholm-headquartered iGaming firm Betsson to pay a gambling addict SEK5m ($590,000).
aggressive marketing and bonus incentives
The court ruled Betsson’s Malta-based subsidiary BML Group exploited a known gambling compulsion in the man, referred to only as Per from Örebro, via aggressive marketing and bonus incentives.
According to the Stockholm daily, Betsson “bombarded” the 51-year-old with marketing, gifts, and bonuses.
While the court ruling represents a grueling victory for Per, who had reportedly been fighting his case for a decade, Betsson expressed disappointment on Tuesday with the Supreme Court’s decision.
Per’s VIP spree
Bettson issued a press release in which CEO Pontus Lindwall expressed his firm’s disappointment over the judgement.
Lindwall highlighted in the statement that Per’s case went back to 2009–2014, before the new Swedish Gambling Act. The CEO added that the Act, which rolled out in 2019, “meant that a clearer regulatory framework for the Swedish market was introduced.”
Despite expressing his company’s dissatisfaction, Lindwall noted that the case had “very specific circumstances and that the ruling is not expected to have any broader financial consequences” for Betsson.
The trouble with Per for Betsson essentially began three years after he opened a gambling account. In 2012, the iGaming firm upgraded Per to a VIP customer and upped its marketing to him.
According to media reports, Per experienced a net loss of just over five million kronor ($527,000) from the time he became a VIP to 2014, when he voluntarily excluded himself from the online casino.
This is the same amount the Supreme Court ordered Bettson pay back to Per, along with legal costs of SEK718,750 ($75,974).
Devil’s in the data
Per’s case was strengthened by the Supreme Court’s investigation into Betsson that revealed the iGaming firm had “access to data that showed that the player had a serious gambling problem.”
Swedish national TV channel Sveriges Television AB cited Per’s legal representative Jörgen Hettne as stating the ruling could bring “a positive change in the gambling market” while also strengthening consumer protection in Sweden.
