Betsson Group wins Swedish appeal over payments card ‘bonus’ system
Swedish Administrative Court rules vouchers do not constitute gambling and overrules formal warning and SEK20m penalty
The Swedish Administrative Court has annulled a warning and SEK20m (£1.7m) fine issued to Betsson Group by the Swedish Gambling Authority (SGA) over alleged bonus restriction violations.
The sanction was first issued by the SGA in June 2020 after an investigation into the use of the Betsson Mastercard and vouchers, offered by Swedish newsagents Pressbyrån and 7-Eleven.
Voucher codes obtained in branches of Pressbyrån and 7-Eleven across Sweden were only redeemable on the Betsson Nordic website, as both newsagents do not operate gambling terminals of their own.
Under this promotion, voucher codes with a value totalling SEK250,597 were issued and redeemed between March 2019 and November 2019.
The SGA said both Pressbyrån and 7-Eleven acted as unlicensed gaming agents for Betsson Nordic and that the vouchers offered “constituted a discount of financial incentive” to gamble online.
SGA regulators also examined the use of the Betsson Mastercard, a limited-edition debit card offered by Betsson, which was designed to speed up payments on the Betsson Nordic brand.
The card was examined over claims its limited nature constituted a bonus or incentive. Responding to the regulator in March, Betsson denied these claims and agreed to widen the service to all customers.
In both cases, the SGA said the offers constituted a repeated bonus incentive, something which is currently prohibited under Swedish gambling law.
It then issued a penalty and a warning against Betsson, which the Malta-headquartered operator subsequently appealed.
In assessing the case, judges in the Administrative Court came to a different conclusion, suggesting the card is not covered by the gambling act’s rules on gambling agents, as the sale of vouchers “does not constitute the sale of gambling, the receipt of bets or the mediation of winnings”.
“The Administrative Court further finds that Betsson has not, as the SGA believes, neither received payments from anyone other than a gaming service provider nor received cash as payment for online games through the sale of the vouchers,” the court wrote.
“The Administrative Court has made interpretations of the gaming law’s bonus provisions, which, among other things, means that a bonus may not be given or even offered in addition to a player’s first chance to play.
“The court finds that tickets and other benefits can constitute bonuses within the meaning of the law, but that Betsson’s statements did not constitute offers within the meaning of the law,” the court concluded.
As such, the Administrative Court concluded that the SGA had “no basis” for issuing the warning or fine, annulling both sanctions against Betsson Group.
Betsson Group has not commented on the ruling at the time of publication after being approached by EGR for comment.