SGA and Genesis Global head to Supreme Administrative Court over 2019 fine

Sweden’s highest court will hear appeals from both the Swedish Gambling Authority (SGA) and Genesis Global over an ongoing battle relating to a 2019 fine issued to the operator.

In 2019, the SGA fined Genesis SEK4m (£314,364) for failing to connect to the country’s Spelpaus self-exclusion site.

Genesis failed to connect to Spelpaus.se for nine days which led to the regulator handing out a fine on 21 March 2019.

However, Genesis initially appealed the decision to an administrative court and, on 17 December 2019, the court partially upheld the appeal.

The court decided Genesis had breached its self-exclusion obligations, and the SGA had good reason to decide on a penalty fee.

However, the court said the SGA’s estimation of Genesis’ annual turnover was too high and hence the court decided to reduce the penalty fee.

Genesis then took its claim one step further by appealing the ruling to the Swedish Court of Appeal.

On 31 May 2021, the Court of Appeal decided the SGA had the right to issue a fine but the original SEK4m fee was too steep, instead noting the fine should amount to SEK1m.

Now, the SGA and Genesis have both appealed the Court of Appeal’s ruling to the Supreme Administrative Court.

The Supreme Administrative Court has granted leave to the appeals.

The SGA stated: “The Swedish Gaming Inspectorate is positive that the gaming law’s sanction rules will now, for the first time, be tried by the highest court.”