SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Spelinspektionen, Sweden’s gambling inspectorate, has warned licensed online sportsbook operators to closely follow and maintain its rules with regards to their in-play market offerings.
The notice follows official Spelinspektionen warnings to Swedish state-owned racing operator AB Trav Galopp (ATG) and Polar Limited, the operating firm of Coolbet.com for breaching Gaming Act provisions on sportsbook markets.
During Q1 trading, ATG has admitted to Spelinspektionen that it had accepted wagers on a horse ridden by jockey aged under-18.
The incident breached the Swedish Gaming Act’s ‘Chapter 8 sports integrity safeguards’ as bookmakers are prohibited from offering any wagering markets on events, competitions or matches in which participating athletes are below Sweden’s legal gaming age of 18.
As the ATG had immediately informed the Spelinspektionen of its discrepancy, the inspectorate deemed that no penalty would be issued as there were no underlining failures with ATG’s in-play offering.
Meanwhile, Polar’s warning had been issued as the company had notified the agency that its Coolbet brand had offered bets on fouls and yellow/red card markets – two bet types prohibited by the Gaming Act.
Polar stated that it had immediately corrected its in-play football offering, to restrict Swedish customers from engaging with the prohibited betting markets – leading Spelinspektionen to issue no fine.
Last year, Sweden’s Administrative Court of Linköping was forced to revaluate eleven fines issued by Spelinspektionen with regards to the Gaming Act’s in-play wagering rules and market definitions.
The court reviewed Spelinspektionen penalties issued against bet365, Bethard Group, Entain and Flutter Entertainment with regards to offering under-18 wagering markets
Swedish online gambling trade body BOS was forced to write Spelinspektionen, citing licensed incumbent concerns that Chapter 8 rules did not accommodate technical requirements with regards to how bookmakers gather information related to sporting events and their participants.
BOS demanded that Spelinspektionen freeze certain Chapter 8 provisions, in order for issues surrounding in-play athletes under-18 to be ironed out by operators.
