Swedish regulator penalises Lottoland operator

Swedish gambling regulator Spelinspektionen has issued United Lottery Solutions with an official warning and financial penalty of SEK700,000 (£52,423/€65,492/$73,304) after ruling the Lottoland operator breached national laws on lottery betting.

In its ruling, the regulator said United Lottery Solutions had been offering players in Sweden the opportunity to bet on the outcome of various lottery games via its Lottoland.se site, including Eurojackpot.

Swedish law permits only the specified public entity or state to run lottery games while licensed operators cannot offer betting on lotteries that are organised in Sweden without first seeking the permission of the entity that has the legal right to offer the lotteries.

State-owned Svenska Spel holds the exclusive licence to market lottery games in the country, including Eurojackpot, and Spelinspektionen has said that it did not grant permission to United Lottery Solutions to offer betting on its lotteries.

Although United Lottery Solutions continues to offer betting on lotteries run by operators outside of Sweden – something that is permitted under Swedish law – the regulator said United Lottery Solutions has not been clear that customers do not participate in actual lotteries, but in betting on the outcome of these lotteries.

Spelinspektionen also noted United Lottery Solutions has been offering online scratchcards via Lottoland.se, despite this form of gaming not being covered by its Swedish licence.

The regulator has said that although United Lottery Solutions has now stopped offering betting on Swedish lotteries and scratchcards, such activities had been going on for some time and the violations were judged as serious.

As such, the Spelinspektionen said the warning and penalty fee is based on the severity of the infringement and the operator’s turnover on the Swedish market.

Lottoland chief executive Nigel Birrell said the operator was in ongoing communications with Spelinspektionen on the matter.

The ruling comes after Spelinspektionen this week also moved to revoke Global Gaming’s operating licence in the country after ruling the operator failed to introduce effective player protection controls and anti-money laundering processes.

Global Gaming has since confirmed that it will appeal the decision.

Image: Max Pixel