Global Gaming Quits Swedish iGaming Market After Losing Appeal In Court
Global Gaming had its iGaming license in 2019 suspended by Spelinspektionen, the gaming regulator in Sweden. The licensed was suspended as the gambling watchdog claimed that Global Gaming had committed multiple violations that breached gaming regulations in the country.
Spelinspektionen claimed that Global Gaming had multiple violations regarding money laundering policies and know your customer (KYC) protocols. Since these were major violations, the gaming regulator decided to revoke the operator’s iGaming license and asked the operator to suspend all operations.
Global Gaming had a strong presence in the Swedish market as its flagship Ninja Casino was quite popular with Swedish players. Global Gaming wanted to continue operating in Sweden since the country was one of its core markets.
As a result, the casino operator launched an appeal process. Multiple courts sided with Spelinspektionen which forced the casino operator to take its appeal to Jönköping Court of Appeal.
However, the Jönköping Court of Appeal reached the same conclusion as the Administrative Court which felt that Spelinspektionen was correct to have revoked Global Gaming’s license to operate in Sweden.
Apart from the money laundering and KYC violations, the court found that the online casino operator had neglected its duties in protecting its players by not offering them access to responsible gambling measures and did not take its commitment to problem gambling seriously.
Spelinspektionen said they were happy with the decision of the Jönköping Court of Appeal and said it would send a strong message to all licensed operators to follow gaming regulations or face the possibility of losing their license.
Global Gaming Exiting Sweden
Global Gaming confirmed that it had decided to accept the decision of the Jönköping Court of Appeal and would not be launching any more appeals. The operator confirmed that it will now exit the Swedish market and that the decision by the Jönköping Court of Appeal will not change its current or future plans.
Global Gaming is in the process of reviewing an acquisition offer from Enlabs which is based in the Baltics. The takeover offer was made in September and shareholders in Global Gaming have time till Nov 2 to make a decision.
Enlabs increased its stake in Global Gaming in August and now owns 54.06 percent of the company. Global Gaming is estimated to be worth SE450 million and Enlabs is interested in paying SEK150 million to claim the remaining 13.6 million shares in Global Gaming.
Carolyn DuttonAuthor
Carolyn is our legislation expert, with a background in law she is able to cover the current state of gambling around the world
