The Swedish Administrative Court of Appeal upheld previous rulings on Thursday that Bet365's parent company, Hillside Group, had breached its player protection obligations under Swedish gambling laws. The court rejected appeals filed by Hillside, confirming that between 2019 and 2022, its two subsidiaries, Hillside (Gaming) and Hillside (Sports), did not meet the required standards of care toward their customers.
As a result, the companies were subjected to financial penalties: SEK4 million ($401,010) for the gaming division and SEK40 million for the sports betting segment.
The decision reinforced the position of Sweden's gambling regulator, which had argued that Hillside did not act promptly or effectively when customers showed signs of problematic gambling. According to the Swedish Gaming Act (Chapter 14, Section 1), license holders are obligated to continuously monitor player activity and intervene as needed to mitigate harm.
The court criticized Hillside for relying too much on automated communications, such as pop-ups and emails, while being slow to perform manual reviews. There were also significant delays in imposing access restrictions for players demonstrating risky behavior.
From January 1, 2019, to April 18, 2022, Hillside's platform allowed customers to select a "no limit" deposit option, which violated regulations requiring players to actively choose a daily, weekly, or monthly deposit limit. While there was a technical theoretical limit of SEK500 million, it was neither communicated nor enforced, making it noncompliant with Swedish law.
Both the Administrative Court in Linköping and the Administrative Court of Appeal in Jönköping found the combination of warnings and financial penalties to be appropriate. The penalty for the gaming division was ultimately settled at SEK4 million, while the fine for sports betting was adjusted downward from SEK65 million to SEK40 million.
Spelinspektionen, Sweden’s gambling regulator, examined ten players with the highest losses from October 17 to December 17, 2021, focusing on five individuals, whose frequent deposits and subsequent losses triggered an internal early risk detection system at Hillside. However, the operator’s reaction to the identified risks was delayed and inconsistent.
The investigations exposed Hillside's excessive dependence on automated messages while failing to escalate issues for more stringent manual reviews. In some cases, it took nearly a month for stronger restrictions to take effect, despite ongoing risky behaviors by players.
In defense, Hillside claimed its early risk detection system was generally effective and pointed out that the players analyzed represented a small segment of their customer base. The company also argued that Swedish regulations lacked clarity on intervention timing, asserting that its "no limit" choice was intended to conform with initial guidance. The courts dismissed these arguments, affirming that they did not excuse the violations.
Spelinspektionen specified that the customers examined had faced sustained losses despite the operator’s primarily informative responses. The regulator described the lack of enforcement of mandatory deposit limits as a long-standing issue incompatible with regulatory requirements.
This is not the first time Hillside has faced scrutiny regarding its player protection measures. Earlier this year, the Dutch gambling regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) imposed a binding order on Hillside due to its failure to meet certain duty of care obligations. The KSA noted that Hillside had not adequately reacted to indications that players might be spending beyond their means, relating to the period from December 6, 2024, to June 6, 2025, during which the regulator cited insufficient interventions from the operator.
