Global Gaming wins “review permit” following Swedish appeal
Swedish Supreme Court will now review licence revocation decision
Global Gaming has received a trial permit from the Swedish Administrative Court of Appeal in Jönköping, enabling the Supreme Court to launch a full review into the decision to revoke the licence of its SafeEnt subsidiary.
Speaking about the decision, Global Gaming CEO Tobias Fagerlund said he was “relieved” the revocation would now be reviewed and potentially overturned.
“This is good news for us but does not change anything in the short term,” Fagerlund said. “We hope that the Supreme Court will finally share our view that the Gaming Inspection’s decision was disproportionate and incorrect,” he added.
Fagerlund confirmed to EGR that the company expects the full review to be completed by Q2 2019.
The Swedish Gambling Authority has said that SafeEnt will not be allowed to operate in Sweden during this period. It also confirmed plans to submit its response to the Supreme Court within the next month.
Global Gaming’s SafeEnt subsidiary was stripped of its Swedish licence in June 2019, following SGA claims that the business had “serious and systematic shortcomings” in its AML and KYC policies.
The company previously appealed the decision on four separate occasions, asking Swedish courts to grant so-called “injunctive relief” to allow it to continue to operate pending a full review. However, on each occasion, the court sided with the SGA.
Following the revocation, Global Gaming agreed a deal with fellow operator Finnplay to operate in Sweden under its Viral Interactive subsidiary licence, successfully launching the NanoCasino brand in August via this arrangement.
In November, Global Gaming revealed revenue fell 76% for the third quarter of 2019, although Fagerlund insisted the operator was not “out for the count”.
Later, in November, the Swedish Consumer Agency (SCA) successfully sued the operator over the use of so-called “takeover” advertising of its Ninja Casino brand.