The Swedish Gambling Authority, Spelinspektionen, has handed warnings and sanction fees to Hacksaw Studios and Panda Bluemoon for providing gaming software to operators who don’t hold a Swedish licence.
Sweden’s Administrative Court has also annulled an injunction made by the authority in July 2023 against Zimpler AB as it has determined that the authority has no basis for issuing such an injunction.
Hacksaw Studios
Regarding Hacksaw Studios, Spelinspektionen has stated that the provider supplied gaming software to operators who didn’t have a Swedish licence and will therefore receive a warning and a SEK 2.6m (€226,300) sanction fee.
The authority mentioned that an inspection took place on January 10, 2024, of several websites run by companies that don’t have a licence to operate in the country. Hacksaw Studios was found to be a games supplier for two of the websites investigated, so an inspection into the supplier was initiated.
Within the authority’s decision, it is noted that Hacksaw Studios responded to Spelinspektionen’s inspection on January 23, 2024, stating that it has implemented geoblocking to make sure its game software is only available in Sweden to licensed operators.
The studio said that it does not provide its software to operators who don’t have the necessary licence, and the studio themselves don’t enter into agreements with operators as this task is done by other legal entities within the Hacksaw Group.
In addition, Hacksaw Studios noted that they can’t be responsible for their client’s regulatory compliance, it can’t be guaranteed that an operator won’t attempt to take its content to a market where it doesn’t hold the necessary licences and that any provider that has adequate processes in place shouldn’t be determined in breach of the gambling act and penalised.
The document stated: “Hacksaw Studios states that it has not intended to develop any games or gaming software for operators targeting the Swedish market without the necessary licence, nor do they attempt to circumvent the Swedish Gaming Act. Hacksaw Studios believes that geoblocking minimises the possibilities of such circumvention.”
Hacksaw Studios also highlighted that just because a website is on Spelinspektionen’s banned list, it does not mean that the operator is acting illegally in other jurisdictions.
“If the Swedish Gaming Authority were to judge that the company violated the provisions of the Gaming Act, Hacksaw Studios believes that a warning or remark and penalty fee would be disproportionate. The company believes that a correction could be justified, which is also in accordance with the principle of proportionality.
“Hacksaw Studios has taken several measures to prevent the game software from being manufactured, provided, installed or modified for anyone without the necessary license. This means, among other things, that the monitoring of the Swedish market has increased and that the review of the operators who are on the Gambling Inspectorate’s list of banned companies will be done through a tool that automatically detects changes on a web page and leads to Hacksaw Studios being able to take quick measures if required.”
In response, Spelinspektionen noted that it recognises that operators without a licence may operate in compliance in other jurisdictions, but its investigation into the matter showed that Hacksaw Studio’s “processes and routines were inadequate” as it is “not enough to geoblock a certain game to such a website”.
As a result, the authority has issued Hacksaw Studios with a warning and a sanction fee of SEK 2.6m.
Panda Bluemoon
Regarding Panda Bluemoon, Spelinspektionen has stated that the provider supplied gaming software to operators who didn’t have a Swedish licence and will therefore receive a warning and a SEK 700,000 (€61,000) sanction fee.
During the same investigations by Spelinspektionen on January 10, Panda Bluemoon was also found to be supplying games to two unlicensed operators, so an inspection was initiated.
Within the authority’s decision, Panda Bluemoon stated that corrections were made on January 22, 2024, to make sure games were made unavailable in the Swedish market.
For one operator, games have been removed completely, while with the other operator, a message initially appeared stating that the games were unavailable in the region before they were later removed entirely on March 14.
Panda Bluemoon also noted that the violation occurred due to a breach of contract between operators and the supplier’s distribution company Mikai Tech and therefore the supplier should not be deemed in breach of the Gambling Act and immediately penalised.
The supplier added that its games on relevant websites were not in Swedish, were not playable using Swedish currency, that it doesn’t have a direct relationship with the operators in question and that such games targeting the Swedish market have been made without the supplier’s knowledge.
“If the Swedish Gaming Authority were to judge that the company has violated the provisions of the Gambling Act, Panda Bluemoon considers that a warning or remark and penalty fee would be disproportionate. The company believes that a correction could be justified, which is also in accordance with the principle of proportionality.
“Panda Bluemoon has taken several measures to improve its work and to prevent the game software from being manufactured, provided, installed or modified to anyone who does not have the necessary license. This means, among other things, that the monitoring of the Swedish market has increased and that the review of the operators who are on the Gambling Inspectorate’s list of banned companies will be carried out regularly.”
In response, the authority determined that Panda Bluemoon’s “processes and routines were inadequate” and has issued the supplier with a warning and a sanction fee of SEK 700,000.
Zimpler AB
As previously mentioned, Spelinspektionen also reported that the country’s Administrative Court has annulled an injunction by the authority against Zimpler AB as it has determined that the authority has no basis for issuing such an injunction.
The authority issued a warning of a SEK 25m (€2.2m) fine to Zimpler in July 2023 for providing payment service solutions containing BankID to gaming companies that do not have a Swedish gambling licence.
This ruling by Spelinspektionen has now been annulled by the Administrative Court, but the court’s decision can be appealed to the Administrative Court of Appeal in Jönköping.
