After discovering that national laws on lottery betting had been violated, Swedish gambling regulator Spelinspektionen, issued an official warning and a fine in the amount of SEK700,000 (US$73,304) to lottery betting operator, United Lottery Solutions.

A review by the country’s regulator reportedly found that the Sweden-licensed arm of Lottoland, via website lottoland.se, had organized betting on multi-national European lotto, Eurojackpot, without receiving authorization from Svenska Spel, the rights holder.

Betting on the outcome of lotteries without first obtaining permission from the licensee is prohibited.

Review findings:

According to Swedish gambling regulations, only the specified public entity or state are permitted to offer traditional lotteries, while companies possessing a Swedish betting license are not allowed to offer wagering on the outcomes of lotteries without first having received permission from the licensee.

It was further reported that the review by Spelinspektionen also found that United Lottery Solutions had provided scratchcards online via Lottoland.se, which is also not within the parameters of its Swedish license.

Penalty imposed:

Spelinspektionen stated…

“The gaming company has made a correction, but the violations have been going on for a long time and are judged by the Gaming Inspectorate as serious.

“On its website, United Lottery Solutions continues to offer betting on lotteries organised by players outside the Swedish licensing system. This is permitted under Swedish law, but the company has not been sufficiently clear with information that customers do not participate in actual lotteries, but in betting on the outcome of lotteries.

“United Lottery Solutions receives a warning from the Gaming Inspectorate and shall pay a penalty fee of SEK700,000. The fee is based on the severity of the infringement and the company’s turnover on the Swedish market.”

Commenting on the United Lottery infraction, Chief  Executive Officer for Lottoland, Nigel Birrell, said…

“We are aware of the notice on the Swedish Gambling Authorities (Spelinspektionen), website and are currently in on-going communication with them about this matter.”

Global Gaming license revocation:

The judgment comes after, on Monday, news emerged that after a thorough review of its Sweden operations, Spelinspektionen revoked Global Gaming’s (GLOBAL:FN Stockholm) subsidiary SafeEnt Ltd.’s license in the Scandinavian nation. SafeEnt was licensed by the gambling regulator to provide services in the local iGaming space with both the Spellandet.com and NinjaCasino.com online casinos.

Te regulator ruled that there were “serious deficiencies” in the way in which SafeEnt was running its respective operations in the gaming market in Sweden., including its player protection and anti-money laundering policies.

Not long after news broke about its license revocation, Global said that it would immediately appeal the decision by the gaming regulator.

Headquartered in southern Sweden, Global was among the 70-plus companies that have been licensed by the local regulator since new laws came into effect to legalize and regulate iGaming in the Scandinavian nation.