Two Swedish Operators Fined for Self-Exclusion Fails

Although the Swedish gambling operator, also known as Spelinspektionen, issued a series of warnings to all licensees who don’t respect the rules in the online gambling market…

…it had to issue fines to two gambling operators who did not heed the initial warning.

It seems like two online gambling operators didn’t pay attention to the self-exclusion rules, and they allowed s to still access their websites, despite being opted in for the tool.

A Penalty for Two Licensees

Last Friday, the Swedish regulatory body officially announced that they had to impose a $430.000 penalty to Genesis Global Ltd…

…as well as $10.000 to Paf.

It is mentioned in the report that Genesis, which currently operates nine online gambling brands that are licensed in Sweden, allowed self-excluded customers to play on their sites.

The names of the gamblers are listed on Spelpaus’s self-exclusion , but the penalized company, nevertheless, let them through. This happened back in January, during the first days of the newly-regulated Swedish online gambling market.

Representatives from Genesis said that the problem was “a failure in a third-party’s system integrating to Spelpaus” and that they will take all necessary steps to regulate the problem.

Paf, licensed in Finland’s autonomous Swedish-speaking Åland Islands region, was fined with $10.000 for the same reasons.

A Word from Spelinspektionen Representative

Camilla Rosenberg, a director-general of Spelinspektionen, said that those fines had to be issued…

…because those two companies were given enough time to overturn their mistakes and they haven’t done so.

The amount each company was fined with was established in accordance with their gambling turnover, how long the infractions persisted and how each company responded to the issue.

She mentioned that their oversight was very serious because that is exactly why Sweden modernized its online gambling market. The Swedish online regulator announced that around 28k people ed for self-exclusion…

…where 77% of them were male and the majority around 30 years old.

More Fines to Come

Rosenberg announced that Spelinspektionen will probably issue more fines in the future to the companies who have been failing to respect the same rules.

She also added that all new operators will be obligated to prove to the regulator that their systems are properly connected to Spelpaus before they start accepting the first wager from Swedish gamblers.

Excessive Advertising

Recently, the regulatory body also announced that they are planning to stand in the way of excessive advertising in the newly regulated Swedish online gambling market.

The regulator partnered up with the Swedish Consumer Agency to make sure that all ments coming from the licensees is in moderation and in accordance with new regulations.

Reportedly, around 19 licensed operators are currently under investigation, including Videoslots that allegedly targeted younger people in the marketing material that appeared on their websites.

Representatives from Videoslots said that they “never intentionally targeted” minors with their marketing and that “all ads in Sweden contain the 18+ symbol and any contradictory claims are incorrect.”

Source:

“Sweden’s gambling licensees fined for self-exclusion fails”, Steven Stradbrooke, calvinayre.com, March 22, 2019.