Court Revokes Spelinspektionen’s Cease Order against Zimpler

Zimpler, a provider of payment solutions, has successfully appealed an order from the Swedish regulator (Spelinspektionen) to stop providing its BankID services to unlicensed companies. The development follows an order issued in 2023.

On July 6, 2023, the Spelinspektionen ordered Zimpler to cease providing BankID payment service solutions to gambling companies that are not licensed in Sweden. Back then, the regulator had suggested that Zimpler’s provision of services to unlicensed companies constituted the promotion of illegal gambling.

The Spelinspektionen had pointed out that Zimpler’s BankID e-ID solution is strictly used by customers in Sweden, meaning that the payments provider is effectively helping offshore companies out.

However, Sweden’s Administrative Court begged to disagree. According to it, the Spelinspektionen “lacked grounds for issuing the injunction.” The court agreed that BankID certainly facilitated the operation of unlicensed operators but argued that the use of BankID alone did not mean whether Zimpler’s clients truly targeted the Swedish market. Additionally, even though Swedish players could access foreign operators, Zimpler’s provision of BankID didn’t constitute the promotion of unlicensed gambling.

As a result, the Administrative Court revoked the Spelinspektionen’s order.

This decision, the Spelinspektionen specified in its release, may be appealed to the Court of Appeal in Jönköping.

Other Recent Regulatory Actions

Speaking of the Administrative Court of Appeal in Jönköping, just reduced the penalty imposed on Kindred from $9.5 million to only $2.85 million. The original fine was imposed in 2020 when the Spelinspektionen imposed a penalty against the operator over bonus rules violations dating back to 2019.

In 2019, Sweden implemented new rules that sought to limit the incentives and inducements operators can offer to their customers. Kindred’s subsidiary, Spooniker, however, continued to offer bonuses, in violation of the new rules.

In the meantime, the Spelinspektionen issued fines against Hacksaw Studios and Panda Bluemoon. The gambling authority accused the two studios of offering their products to unregulated gambling operators and slapped them with fines of $246K and $66K respectively.

In other news, Sweden’s gambling regulator recently commented on a proposed ban on credit cards in gambling. The Spelinspektionen expressed its approval for the measure, saying that would reduce the risks of gambling-related harm. However, the authority acknowledged that the potential economic impact of such a ban has not been studied.

Earlier this month, the Spelinspektionen continued its crackdown on unlicensed gambling, banning WiseAvant OÜ over the provision of unlicensed video game skins gambling.