Kindred Wins Lawsuit Against Swedish Gambling Authority

The Court of Appeal in the Swedish city Jönköping has reduced the sanction fee imposed on Kindred by the Spelinspektionen, the gambling authority in the Scandinavian country. Kindred Group was initially sanctioned SEK 100 million (NZ$ 15,36m). The sanction fee has now been reduced to SEK 30 million ($ 4,61m) for offering bonuses as well as offering lotteries in the country without a licence.

In Sweden, online casinos are only allowed to offer bonuses to new players. Offering other bonuses is prohibited, which is why the Spelinspektionen imposed a million dollar sanction fee on the gambling company Kindred in March 2020. Kindred published an official press release about the case on their website and reiterates that the fine should be fully reduced.

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Second Sanction Fee Reduction

According to the Swedish regulator, the parent company of gambling brands such as Unibet is said to have violated the rules by offering other bonuses and lotteries. During various checks in 2019, the Spelinspektionen discovered that rewards such as free spins, free online bingo, and free bets were awarded to players by brands like Unibet, Maria Casino, Storspelare, Bingo and iGame. The regulator ultimately therefore imposed a fine of $15,36 million. In addition, Kindred also received an official warning from the Spelinspektionen.

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Court Appeal

Kindred did not agree with the sanction fee and decided to appeal to the administrative court in Linköping. The administrative judge shared the opinion of the Spelinspektionen that Kindred had violated the rules and gambling laws of the Scandinavian country. However, the judge did not consider the “Refer a Friend” referral reward as a bonus. As a result, the judge decided to move ahead and reduce the fine to SEK 50 million ($ 7,68 million). Despite the reduction, Kindred continued to argue this decision and pursued its case to the Court of Appeal in Jönköping. A second ruling was handed down on Monday in the case between Spooniker, the subsidiary of Kindred in Sweden, and the gambling authority Spelinspektionen. It is likely that Kindred will fight the court’s latest decision.

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Kindred Reiterates its Point of View

The Swedish regulator announced on its website that the sanction fee was reduced for a second time to SEK 30 million ($ 4,61m). Fines in Sweden are based on an online gambling operator’s yearly turnover. The Scandinavian gambling company is still not satisfied with the outcome and states that the fine should be entirely reduced:

“Kindred believes that, because the rules were vague and open to diverging interpretations, the sanction fee should be fully reduced. Kindred changed its product offer following guidance from Spelinspektionen.”

Website Kindred Group

The Swedish gambling authority is yet to comment on the new sanction fee. Combined with the type of offences, Spelinspektionen declared that a “high sanction fee” was justifiably.

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About Kindred Group

Kindred Group is one of the largest online gambling operators of the world and enjoys a global presence stretching from home country Sweden to other continents such as North America and Oceania. Kindred was established in 1997 and provides online gambling products to more than 30 million customers. In addition to its most known brand Unibet, there are eight other brands that are available internationally. Other gambling products that are part of Kindred include Maria Casino, Bingo.com, 32Red Casino, and Vlad Cazino. Unibet operates in countries like Australia and New Zealand. Kindred Group is a stock listed company and traded at the Nasdaq Stockholm Large Cap. Unibet offers the combination of a sportsbook, an online casino, live dealer casino, online poker client, and online bingo.

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