Swedish court throws out appeals by NGG Nordic and SkillOnNet over bonus fines
Betsson subsidiary NGG Global breached regulations by offering free spins, cash prizes and “surprises every week”
Swedish-licensed operators Nordicbet (NGG) and SkillOnNet have had their appeals over fines for offering bonuses rejected by Sweden’s Administrative Court. As a result, the Swedish Gambling Authority (SGA) revealed that it was upholding its decision of both firms offering “financial incentives” in the form of bonuses. These were bonuses that were offered four months after Swedish legislation banned such incentives in June 2020. Under Sweden’s online gambling laws, a bonus can only be awarded to a player on one occasion and must not exceed SEK100 (£8). Despite its review of the appeal, the SGA revealed it had made some minor changes to the initial ruling. The initial SEK19m (£1.5m) meted out to NGG, a subsidiary of Betsson, was reduced to SEK14m after review. NGG and SkillOnNet were ultimately both fined the same amount for operating in violation of gambling laws. NGG was accused of offering bonuses in the form of “surprises every week, raffle cash prizes, travel, free spins, bonuses, rewards and free games” for loyal players, while SkillOnNet dished out daily bonuses, monthly rewards, free spins and VIP packages Additionally, the SGA stated NGG had also organised lotteries online without a licence to do so. SkillOnNet contested the decision last year, stating: “We have had ongoing dialogue with the SGA since February [2021] in which we explained our reasoning for the types of offers we had. We felt our reasoning was solid and justifiable within the wordings of the gambling act. Certain elements were also backed up by legal opinion.” The Swedish regulator said of the unsuccessful appeals: “These offers constitute discounts and financial incentives and thus constitute bonuses. To be able to take part in the offers provided by the company required the player to be a customer of the company, had registered a gaming account with the company and that the player previously had played or played on any of the games provided by the company.” As a result of the decision, both firms confirmed that they would only offer new players a bonus and ensure that the bonus is only paid out once per customer.