Lotto Direct hit with Swedish penalty over unlicensed games content

Lotto Direct has received a fine from Spelinspektionen, the Swedish Gambling Inspectorate, worth SEK15,000 after offering games on its website that were not covered by its licence.

An investigation by Spelinspektionen deemed that Lotto Direct had ‘violated the terms of the company’s license’ and that the violations were a deliberate flout of Swedish legislation, for which it has also received a formal warning.

The Malta-based company, whose flagship portal is the popular lottery brokerage of TheLotter.com was issued a licence to sell tickets in Sweden on its thelotter.com/se site on June 8, 2020 running until June 7, 2023.

However, in August 2020, Lotto Direct applied to extend its licence to another Swedish website, thelotter.se, to which Spelinspektionen said a SEK150,000 application fee needed to be paid. Yet, no application fee was ever paid which resulted in the application being rejected and an appeal was lodged to the Court of Appeal.

Despite the decision gaining legal force from the Court of Appeal, Lotto Direct was still offering games on thelotter.se.

In a statement following the fine, the gambling authority said: “The Swedish Gaming Inspectorate states that this has been a deliberate violation of a serious nature that has been going on for a long time in this context. Against this background, the Swedish Gaming Inspectorate decides on the penalty fee of SEK 15,000.”