Global Gaming ends Swedish licence challenge after latest legal defeat
Prospective owner Enlabs eager to move on from “inherited” lawsuit by expanding operations outside of Sweden
Global Gaming will no longer contest the revocation of its licence by the Swedish Gambling Authority (SGA) following a legal defeat in the Swedish Court of Appeal.
In a court hearing in Jonkoping, judges dismissed Global Gaming’s latest attempt to win back its Swedish online gambling licence, which was removed in July 2019 after the SGA found “serious and systematic shortcomings” in its AML and KYC policies.
“We have made a balance between the circumstances that speak for and against the revocation of the licence. In this case, we consider that a warning is not a sufficient measure,” judge Anders Poulsen stated.
“The SGA’s decision to revoke the company’s licence should therefore not be changed,” he added.
Global Gaming have fought against their Swedish licence revocation on several occasions this year, each time resulting in a legal defeat for the operator.
However, Global Gaming’s newly appointed board of directors distanced itself from the case, insisting they had “inherited” the legal challenge from the previous executive team.
The Malta-headquartered operator’s new management team said it shared the view of the SGA and the court to finally draw a line under the long and arduous legal battle.
“The board would like to point out that it took office only a few weeks before the hearing in the Court of Appeal, and the bidding process is currently ongoing. As a result, any measures undertaken may undermine the company’s shares,” Global Gaming’s board explained.
“Due to this, there was no reasonable opportunity for the board to stop the ongoing case even before the hearing in the Court of Appeal.
“All in all, the board welcomes the fact that they have now been announced, and a consequence of this is that clear and distinct conditions for Global Gaming’s future operations now also exist,” Global Gaming added.
Global Gaming terminated the contract of former CEO Tobias Fagerlund in September. Fagerlund had been one of the chief advocates for continuing the legal challenge, having previously criticised the SGA’s lack of clarity and communication over the initial revocation decision.
The operator highlighted extensive work within the business aimed at rectifying the compliance issues identified, affirming its belief that Global Gaming’s current standards were of a “very high-quality level”.
Global Gaming has said the court’s decision has no impact on current or future operations.
The decision to end its legal challenge effectively brings to a close the group’s Swedish ambitions after prospective new owner Enlabs stated its aim of expanding Global Gaming’s business into the Estonian, Latvian and Ukrainian markets.