Sweden’s Supreme Administrative Court has this week ruled that Mr Green, Spooniker and several ComeOn-owned brands cannot appeal against regulatory decisions and must now pay penalty fees administered by Spelinspektionen.
The rulings were made public yesterday (17 December), with all decisions going against the operators. Mr Green, Spooniker and ComeOn were among the brands seeking leave to appeal.
Spooniker set to pay SEK30 million
Spooniker faces the largest penalty of SEK30 million (£2.2 million/€2.6 million/$2.7 million). The Kindred subsidiary faced charges for offering unauthorised bonuses and lotteries without a licence in March 2020.
The situation could have been a lot worse for Spooniker as the operator originally faced an SEK100 million penalty.
This was later reduced to SEK50m in 2021 and again earlier this year to the final amount of SEK30 million. Spooniker was hoping for further success with another appeal, but this will not be permitted after the latest ruling.
Mr Green penalised for AML, duty of care failures
Mr Green also saw its penalty fee reduced this year following a plea to the Court of Appeal. Spelinspektionen issued a SEK31.5m penalty against Mr Green in August 2021 over anti-money laundering (AML) and duty of care failures.
However in May, the Court of Appeal decided to reduce the penalty fee to SEK12 million for the duty of care shortcomings and SEK1.5 million for its AML failures. The court said this was in line with the Supreme Administrative Court’s guidance on how penalty fees should be calculated.
Like Spooniker, Mr Green failed with its latest attempt to appeal and it now faces paying the SEK13.5 million.
Four ComeOn brands to pay penalties
Four other brands were also looking to launch an appeal against regulatory decisions in the country. These brands – ComeOn Sweden, Snabbare, Hajper and Casinostugan – are under the ownership of ComeOn and face charges for violating bonus rules dating back to February 2021.
The ComeOn-owned brands all launched earlier appeals against the ruling. Although the initial appeal was rejected, they successfully cut their penalties.
Snabbare faces the heaviest penalty fee of the quartet at SEK24 million, down from SEK65 million.
Hajper is being ordered to pay SEK14 million, down from the original SEK50 million set by the regulator. ComeOn Sweden must pay SEK13 million, a drop from SEK35 million, while Casinostugan saw its SEK25 million penalty reduced to SEK8 million.
All four failed in attempts to launch further appeals against the rulings. As it stands, they must all pay the restated amounts.
Cosmogames banned in Sweden
In other Swedish regulatory news, Cosmogames has been banned from providing online gambling in Sweden without the relevant licence.
Detailing the case, Spelinspektionen said Cosmogames was active in the country through its Spinarium.com website. Cosmogames was also found to be operating the Spinarium3.com, Spinarium4.com, Spinarium5.com and Spinarium.games websites.
The regulator said Swedish consumers could access, register and gamble on Spinarium.com despite Cosmogames not having a gambling licence. Players could also deposit, gamble and withdraw in Swedish krona, which is illegal for unlicensed operators.
Cosmogames has been ordered to cease operations immediately, although it did not respond to a request for response from the regulator.
