Kindred Group hit with £8m sanction for Swedish bonus offers
Swedish Gambling Authority pulls no punches with SEK100m fine for operator’s Spooniker Ltd subsidiary
Kindred Group has felt the wrath of the Swedish Gambling Authority (SGA) after being hit with a SEK100m (£8.3m) sanction for offering repeat bonuses.
The hefty fine was issued alongside a warning after the operator’s Spooniker Ltd subsidiary offered customers financial incentives in breach of the new gambling legislation.
SGA legislation permits Sweden’s licensed online gambling operators to offer welcome bonuses only.
According to the regulator, Kindred offered several unauthorised bonuses to customers in May and June of 2019, five months after the country’s re-regulated gambling market launched.
The SGA ruled the bonus offers were in violation of the gaming act, while Kindred also offered games to consumers that were not covered by its operating licence.
Kindred has pledged to appeal the SGA sanction and claims it has adopted a “more restrictive” interpretation of the bonusing law since spring 2019. The initial investigation began in March 2019.
“Kindred is of the opinion that the Swedish Gambling Act adopted on 1 January 2019 has been vague in areas related to commercial activities and thereby creating unnecessary ambiguity,” the operator said in a statement.
“Kindred welcomes more clarity in these areas and continues to improve its operations to ensure full compliance.”
ATG was also found guilty of offering repeat bonuses last week but the SGA stopped short of a fine because the former monopoly regulator quickly corrected the technical error that led to the breach.
Gustaf Hoffstedt, chair of Swedish operator trade body BOS, insists financial sanctions need to be based on gross gaming revenue rather than total revenue.
BOS chair Gustaf Hoffstedt
“I welcomed the fact the SGA decided to warn trotting company ATG but refrained from sanction fees,” Hoffstedt told EGR Intel. “I was hoping this was a sign from the authority with a willingness to improve the dialogue with the industry.
“No licensed operator violates the gambling act on purpose, and the need to receive clarity from the SGA is vast. The need is vast to receive clarity at an early stage, not one year after the claimed infringement with an attached invoice of SEK100m.
“The gambling act says that the bonus prohibition covers bonuses with a direct connection to a game. The Kindred sanction tells us the SGA standpoint is that any financial incitement is prohibited regardless of whether it is connected to a game or not.
“The industry would have appreciated a dialogue regarding this interpretation from the SGA, rather than a sanction fee that exceeds all reasonable measures when it comes to proportionality,” he added.