Swedish gambling regulator confirms harsh penalties for self-exclusion failures
Non-compliant operators can be fined and licences removed “as a last resort”
Swedish gambling regulator Spelinspektionen has confirmed it could strip the licence of any egaming operator which does not connect to the Spelpaus.se self-exclusion system.
The regulator was responding to media reports of deficiencies in the newly-introduced system which have led to the identification of several operators which have not connected.
As part of a three-stage process, any operator found not to be connected to the Spelpaus system will be issued with a letter asking them to explain their actions.
Based on the response received, Spelinspektionen will issue a formal warning to the operator which may be combined with a regulatory penalty. Spelinspektionen has confirmed this penalty will not exceed ten times the turnover of the licensed operator involved.
If the regulator deems that the violation is serious enough, or if the operator lacks the resources necessary to connect to the system then Spelinspektionen has confirmed that it will remove its licence “as a last resort”.
As part of the new regulations, all licensed Swedish egaming operators must connect to the Spelpaus system and regularly monitor it for self-exclusions, closing the accounts of any individual who signs up for the register.
The news follows the identification of two operators, Aspire Global and Genesis Global, who had not connected to the self-exclusion system, which is mandatory for all licensed operators under the new regulatory regime.
Both have since connected to the system following the issuing of letters by the regulator. Addressing the coverage, a spokesperson for Genesis Global said the issue was caused by failures in a third-party system integrating with the Spelpaus platform. These failures have since been rectified and all Genesis Global brands are now connected to the platform.
“We’ve contacted and refunded all the players together with closing all the accounts which were monitored, as required by the regulation. Genesis shall not profit from this failure that has affected these self-excluded players,” a spokesperson added.