Betway and Genesis Global see Swedish fines reduced on appeal

Betway and Genesis Global have won appeals against the Swedish Gambling Authority (SGA) over fines imposed for offering repeated bonuses to Swedish players.

Betway received a SEK5m (£426,000) fine in May 2019 for offering recurring bonuses on deposits, weekly free games and recurring free spins, all of which are illegal under Swedish gambling laws.

Fellow operator Genesis Global was hit with its own SEK1.7m fine in June of last year after SGA investigators found the firm had offered bonuses to VIPs.

The SGA claimed the operator had violated legislation by “informing their customers about the possibility of receiving recurring bonuses on their websites”.

The operators appealed the fines. Betway asserted that its bonus conditions constituted one bonus rather than repeated bonuses and disputed whether free spins constituted bonuses.

Following separate hearings in the Swedish Administrative Court in Linköping, judges agreed to reduce Betway’s fine to SEK4.7m and the Genesis Global fine to SEK1.2m.

In separate legal hearings, appeals by both Mandalorian Technologies and Aspire Global to have their fines for bonusing reduced were dismissed.

Mandalorian Technologies, which is now owned by Paf, argued a SEK9m (£766,000) fine levied by the SGA for offering cashback offers to players “did not constitute an economic incentive to gamble”, having received prior legal advice on the matter.

The operator further argued it was being punished twice for the same offence by being fined and latterly by having its Swedish licence reduced to two years.

However, the court ruled the appeal was invalid since it was primarily against the SGA’s decision-making process and not against the infringement.

Elsewhere, Aspire Global requested to have its SEK500,000 (£42,000) fine removed on grounds the SGA’s definition of a bonus was unclear but the court again dismissed the appeal as invalid.