Cherry fails in appeal against limited Swedish licence

The Swedish regulator last year granted Cherry’s Co Gaming subsidiary a two-year operating licence, covering its seven brands.

The operator then challenged the decision, only for the Administrative Court of Linköping to dismiss its appeal, concluding Spelinspektionen was within its rights to limit the licence term.

Cherry then took its appeals to the Administrative Court of Appeal in Jönköping, but the Court again ruled in favour of the regulator.

The failed appeal come after Paf-owned Mandalorian Technologies this week said it had successfully appealed against a sanction for breaching bonus regulations that saw its Swedish licence term shortened.

The operator’s licence was shortened from five years to two after it was found to have offered bonuses to players on a number of occasions after they had signed to it platform.

However, while the Administrative Court of Linköping ruled that the SEK9m (£787,296/€870,343/$1.0m) penalty issued to Mandalorian should remain, it said the licence should be extended to three years.

Spelinspektionen this month also set out certain clarifications regarding its position on licence terms, setting out how licensees’ financial health can impact their permits in Sweden.

Some licence applicants in 2019 were only issued year-long permits, on the basis that the subsidiary companies through which operators filed their submissions were in negative equity.

Following appeals by a number of operators, they had their licences extended from two to three years, with Spelinspektionen saying it would use the court’s decisions as a precedent for future licensing decisions.