Betfair and Coolbet see Swedish underage betting fines reduced on appeal
Court of Appeal also dismisses latest legal challenge from eight operators including bet365 to quash sanctions
Sweden’s Court of Appeal has reduced fines issued to Betfair and Coolbet for offering betting on football matches where most participants were under the age of 18.
In the case of Betfair, the court reduced the fine by SEK1m to SEK4.5m (£380,000) after it established there were mitigating circumstances surrounding the event.
These mitigating circumstances were that the violation occurred on just a single match between under-19 sides Vasalunds IF and FC Djursholm on 12 April 2019, in which just 52.7% of players were under the age of 18.
Judges also cited corrective actions taken by Betfair in stopping repeat instances of the betting breach.
However, the Court of Appeal dismissed Betfair’s argument to have the fine quashed altogether, ruling that the violation of Swedish law was serious enough to justify a regulatory warning and a penalty.
In a separate legal challenge, Coolbet parent company Polar Limited had its SEK650,000 regulatory penalty reduced to SEK600,000.
Judges again dismissed the appeal to have the fine struck off due to the serious nature of the violation.
However, judges highlighted the fact that the markets were only available due to a technical error made by Coolbet, which was immediately rectified.
The firms were issued with fines along with eight other operators for offering betting on these matches in July 2019.
In all cases, the operators involved immediately appealed the fines in the Swedish courts.
Under Swedish law, licensed sports betting firms are not permitted to offer betting on sporting events where the majority of participants are under the age of 18.
All the firms involved requested the fines be cancelled on grounds the SGA did not issue clear guidance to operators on its interpretation of Swedish Gambling Act regulations on underage players.
At the time, judges dismissed legal challenges by operators including bet365, Entain and Flutter Entertainment.
In the case of Polar Limited, Coolbet won its initial appeal securing a SEK50,000 reduction to its initial SEK700,000 fine.
However, subsequent appeals against the court rulings were made by the 10 operators, resulting in the latest Court of Appeal judgments.
The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeals made by the remaining eight operators, including bet365, Entain, TSG Interactive and ComeOn Group.