Spelinspektionen Penalizes Betway After it Accidentally Breached Rules

Betway has been penalized by the Spelinspektionen (Swedish Gambling Inspectorate) for breaching rules concerning issued bonuses. Hence, the operator has been ordered to pay around $11,000 (SEK100,000). This comes on the heels of the recent ban of Disrupt Entertainment who is now no longer able to provide its services to Swedish players.

The Penalty is Over a 200% Match Deposit Bonus

Betway announced a special 200% match deposit bonus on June 10, 2021, and this offer was supposed to be available to customers of a minor brand by Betway Limited, but instead, the offer was available for all Betway customers.

As reports state, 52 customers were able to claim the offer 53 times under the wrongful terms and conditions before Betway noticed its error and corrected it. The misuse of the bonus took place on June 10 between 11 am and 2:30 pm.

After the issue was flagged, Betway acted quickly to inform its customers to make sure that they were aware of the misunderstanding. Moreover, to make sure that this does not happen again, Betway announced that its employees no longer have the right to make any marketing campaigns available via the back-office management system of the company and that the employees that were involved in the false promotion will undergo further training.

Spelinspektionen Acknowledged the Fact that Betway Acted Quickly

Spelinspektionen noted that the rules concerning bonus offers had been breached, specifically chapter 14 (9) of the Swedish Gaming Act. According to this chapter, bonuses cannot be provided multiple times. Instead, the bonus can only be offered when the player registers an account.

Even though Betway was fined $11,000 (SEK100,000), Spelinspektionen noted that the operator was quick to correct its wrongdoing and made the right call to get in touch with its customers and let them know of the issue.

That is why the regulator considers the breach as not “not too serious” and noted the fact that it only lasted for a limited time, and a handful of players took advantage of it. Spelinspektionen also alluded to the fact that Betway took the right steps to ensure that this problem will not happen again in the future.

In doing so, Betway managed to escape the maximum penalty, which includes a fine and a 10% turnover charge of the license holder.

Spelinspektionen Has Been Working Tirelessly Recently

The Swedish regulator has been putting maximum effort into making sure the online casino industry is safe for the players. Back in November, it banned 23 gambling websites that were operating out of Curacao.

As for cases similar to Betway’s, Spelinspektionen issued penalties to SkillOnNet and the NNG Nordic subsidiary of Betsson in 2019 after they offered the same bonuses to their players on several occasions. SkillOnNet received a $1.5 million (SEK14 million) fine, while NGG Nordic received a $2 million (SEK19 million) fine.