SGA hits LuckyCasino with SEK28m fine for duty of care failings

The Swedish Gambling Authority (SGA) has slapped Glitnor Services with a SEK28m (£2.2m) fine for failing to take “sufficiently effective measures to counteract excessive gambling” for 10 customers.

The shortcomings relate to LuckyCasino, which Malta-based Glitnor operates in Sweden.

The regulator ruled the operator had failed to act effectively to reduce gambling spend among the 10 customers, didn’t follow-up on the actions it took and also neglected to put measures in place in a timely manner.

The SGA said all 10 customers had “very high deposit limits”, with three customers’ maximum limits set at SEK2.2m per month.

The regulator noted in some examples that one player placed 3,200 bets in five-and-a-half hours without sufficient intervention, while there were also significant losses over the reporting period.

For example, one player lost 24% of his annual income in just three days, while another young player deposited SEK193,000 in two weeks.

The SGA said LuckyCasino’s general emails sent to the consumers about responsible gaming tools had “no visible effect on gaming patterns” and were not “effective”.

In some cases, the operator implemented loss limits, personalised interventions and placed players on monitoring lists.

However, the regulator said these efforts did not have an effect on the players’ gambling either.

Other measures, such as freezing an account, was deemed to have come too late, given the player in question had been excessively gambling for more than a month before the decision.

Glitnor said it believed it had not breached duty of care requirements.

A Glitnor spokesperson said: “Glitnor Group has received a judgment today from the SGA due to perceived shortcomings in our responsible gaming practices prior to 2023. Regulatory authorities have determined that we did not fully meet compliance expectations in ensuring player protection.

“The group takes responsible gaming extremely seriously, and maintaining a safe environment for our customers remains our top priority. As a result, we continuously implement and enhance measures to strengthen our compliance.

“The group considers this judgment to be unjust, based around vague and unclear rules, and intends to appeal forthwith.

“The group does not consider the judgment to be appropriate and looks forward to making its case strongly at appeal.”

The SGA also fined LeoVegas SEK8m for failing to reduce excessive gambling spend by three players at an earlier stage in their respective customer lifecycles.

The regulator issued the penalty and a remark to Roar Vegas, which is licensed by the SGA and operates as LeoVegas.

The SGA said that while Roar Vegas had “acted with effective measures” to reduce the three individuals’ gambling, it had done so too late, therefore breaching duty of care requirements.

All three customers were identified as having high deposit limits and played several times a week, as per the SGA’s report.

In fact, one player had logged in to the site every day during the first three weeks of January, deposited SEK116,400 and lost an equal amount.

Another user deposited SEK69,900 in an 11-day period, while the third player deposited SEK60,575 in the four weeks after they registered for an account.

LeoVegas said it recognised that the players’ deposit limits were high and did not dispute the players had been gambling excessively.

The company has a ranking system in place to determine each individual player’s risk rating, the operator added.

However, the LeoVegas claimed that Swedish licence requirements were not clear on when a business should intervene in the customer journey.

Additionally, LeoVegas said the SGA had placed too much emphasis on some risk factors, such as denied deposits and length of logged-in periods, when determining a customer’s risk level.

The operator also claimed it had put measures in place prior to the SGA’s investigation, including additional pop-up messages to warn customers their deposit limit is high and fixed loss limits.

Despite these contentions, the SGA insisted the firm had not acted quickly enough to protect consumers, pointing to chapter 14, section one, of the Swedish Gambling Act.

The legislation states that licensees must act “as soon as necessary” to stop excess gambling, and “actively follow up” the impact of efforts to do so.

The SGA report read: “Roar Vegas has demonstrated they have had a system in place that has taken into account relevant indicators of excessive gambling and monitored player behaviour.

“However, fulfilling the duty of care also requires that effective measures are taken with sufficient urgency when excessive gambling occurs.

“It is the overall assessment of the Swedish Gambling Authority that the company, despite relevant information, has not acted quickly enough with effective measures at the individual level.”

A LeoVegas Group spokesperson said: “LeoVegas Group takes responsible gaming and our duty of care obligations very seriously. We disagree with SGA’s conclusion, and will subsequently appeal the case.

“Since the supervision, we have continued to review and update our responsible gaming processes, which will always be subject to constant review and development.