Swedish court upholds Spelinspektionen’s Cherry licence ruling

Swedish gambling regulatory body Spelinspektionen has claimed victory in an Administrative Court case over its decision to award a limited licence to a number of online gaming brands owned and run by Cherry AB.

Spelinspektionen issued licences to a total of seven brands run by Co Gaming, which is 100% owned by Cherry AB, but stated that these licences would only run for an initial period of two years.

Licences were awarded to Casinostugan, ComeOn Sweden, XC Gaming Sweden, Cherry Casino Sweden, Hajper Ltt, Snabbare Ltd and MOA Gaming Sweden, but all of the brands appealed to the court over the decision to limit their licences.

However, the court in Linköping ruled in favour of Spelinspektionen, saying that it is within its right to limit the licences, rejecting the brands’ appeals over the decision.

The ruling comes after the Administrative Court also recently moved to reduce Casino Cosmopol’s penalty fee for breaching licence conditions related to money laundering and terrorist financing.

Spelinspektionen issued Casino Cosmopol’s with an initial penalty fee of SEK8m (£641,023/€739,493/$815,797) after identifying serious and systematic deficiencies during an investigation of the land-based casino chain, which operates four venues across Sweden.

The court essentially accepted deficiencies that were identified by the regulator during its initial investigation and agreed Casino Cosmopol should pay a penalty fee,

However, the court said based on an assessment of the nature, character and extent of the violations set out by the regulator, the penalty fee should be reduced to SEK3m.

Spelinspektionen could move to appeal against the court ruling.