Yggdrasil, a globally recognized iGaming provider, must pay a fine of SEK300,000, which is approximately €26,218, to Spelinspektionen, the Swedish gambling regulator, for supposedly providing gaming software to a firm that doesn’t have an official license to operate in Sweden. In addition to the fine, the firm also received a warning.
Investigation:
On March 22 last year, Yggdrasil got its software license, which allowed it to install, supply and design gaming software utilized for online gaming in Sweden. Additionally, the expiration date of this license is June 20, 2028.
Relatedly, the gambling regulator commented that it started its inquiry on January 16 this year, when it started to inquire about websites operated by operators who don’t have a license in Sweden. Additionally, the inquiry showed that Yggdrasil was a provider for 1 of these websites, according to the Spelinspektionen’s draft decision.
This is contrary to chapter eleven, section six of the Swedish Gambling Act. In addition, the brief summary of this segment is that owners of the game software licenses may not supply software to anyone who doesn’t have a license.
In response to the inquiry, Yggdrasil commented that it fixed the problem on January 23rd of this year. It also commented that the breach was because of a violation in agreement between the retailer and itself. Additionally, the firm specified that it no longer “manufactures, supplies, installs or changes gaming software for players without the necessary licence.”
Furthermore, the watchdog recognized that the aforementioned firm obeyed its order, but added that all licensees are expected to do so.
Decision on the imposition of a fine and a warning:
The regulator came to the conclusion that instead of completely canceling the firm’s license in Sweden, a warning will be sufficient for this particular matter. This was joined with the imposed fine.
Regarding the fine, it have to be at least SEK5,000 and set at the utmost of 10% of the turnover of the firm in association to the previous financial year. Since net sales of Yggdrasil reached €514,566 during the previous year, which is equal to SEK5.8m, the fine cou ph646 ld have potentially been as big as SEK580,000, according to the source.
However, the firm didn’t offer a public response to the fine and warning.
Furthermore, this newest action by Spelinspektionen comes after a series of regulatory measures. In this regard, during December, Casino Cosmopol received a fine of SEK2m for many anti-money laundering (AML) failures. Beside that, in the same month, it gave a warning to Svenska Spel.
Regarding failings, in the exact words of the regulator, Casino Cosmopol “failed in its work with customer knowledge in several areas” concerning AML.
Then the regulator excluded Perfect Storm and Moonrail Limited for unlicensed operation during November last year. Both were discovered to target their online sites at Swedish clients. This involved details like the conditions and terms section of their online sites, as well as marketing materials cited in Swedish.
