Swedish Gambling Authority rejects “highly inappropriate” Ninja Casino reinstatement deal
Regulator rejects Viral Interactive application to add domain to its licence
The Swedish Gambling Authority (SGA) has rejected an application by operator Finnplay to add the Swedish-facing version of the Ninja Casino domain to its Viral Interactive licence.
In a statement confirming the refusal, the SGA said it considered it to be “highly inappropriate” for Viral Interactive to partner with Global Gaming brands Elec Games and SafeEnt Limited.
The SGA has cited both operators’ “serious violations” of Swedish law as reasons for the rejection.
Finnplay’s Viral Interactive subsidiary agreed a marketing partnership for the Ninja Casino brand with Elec Games in July 2019. Elec Games operates its own separate agreement with SafeEnt Limited, the registered Swedish entity of Global Gaming.
SafeEnt Limited was stripped of its Swedish licence in June 2019 after the SGA found it had “serious and systematic shortcomings” in its AML and KYC policies, together with failing to enforce deposit limits.
The company is currently embroiled in a long-standing court case with the SGA over the revocation, having recently won a “review permit” to allow a full hearing at Sweden’s Supreme Court.
In November, the Swedish Consumer Agency (KO) successfully sued Elec Games over the use of so-called “takeover” advertising of the Ninja Casino brand.
“The Gaming Inspectorate also considers that the assignment agreements entered into by Viral Interactive Limited do not meet the gaming team’s requirements for an assignment agreement (gaming operations must be conducted under controlled and security-assured forms),” the SGA added.
Speaking about the decision, Global Gaming CEO Tobias Fagerlund questioned why the SGA had taken five months to reach its decision, claiming Viral Interactive did not play a part in Global Gaming’s lawsuit with the SGA.
Viral Interactive cannot in any way be regarded as a party to the court proceedings currently in place between SafeEnt Ltd and the Gaming Inspectorate, nor can it be charged with the marketing previously conducted by Elec Games.
The gaming inspection’s decision to revoke SafeEnt’s licence has not yet gained legal force and therefore cannot be used as an argument.
“It is obvious to me that there is a lot of prestige in the Gaming Inspectorate’s decision and that the Gaming Inspectorate continues to make questionable decisions which in our opinion lack clear support in the legislation,” Fagerlund added.