Stefan Lundborg Resigns From Kindred Due To Insider Crime Investigation

Stefan Lundborg is leaving his position as а non-executive director at Kindred Group after he became a subject of investigation for insider crime launched by the Swedish Economic Crime Authority (SECA)

Stefan Lundborg is Subject to Investigation for Inside Crime by SECA

Kindred Group has informed the public in a press release about the resignation of Stefan Lundborg from his role as non-executive director at Kindred Group due to an ongoing investigation for insider crime by the Swedish Economic Crime Authority (SECA). Lundborg is leaving his position with immediate effect.

The online gambling operator noted that this is the only information it has at the moment and said it is providing its maximum cooperation to the Public Prosecutor and the SECA.

“The resignation of Stefan Lundborg was unavoidable considering the investigation against him by the Swedish Economic Crime Authority.”

Anders Ström, Chairman, Kindred Group

Ström added that there were no other similar allegations or suspicions against other members of the board and more details will be revealed when the investigation is completed. On 2 December, Ström himself announced that he will not stand for re-election at the Annual General Meeting 2021 of the Kindred Group, and will instead step off the operator’s board.

The decision was driven by Ström’s plans to dedicate more time to friends and family. Ström is the founder of Unibet, Kindred’s original brand, which emerged in 1997 as a telephone betting service focussed on the Swedish market and has since then expanded its customer base to nearly 30 million people.

Kindred Opposes Swedish Government’s Gambling Policy

Kindred Group has submitted its opinion against Sweden’s memorandum on prolonging online gambling restrictions until June 2021. These measures were introduced in July in order to prevent problem gambling during the Covid-19 pandemic and were to expire by the end of the year. The online gambling operator said that these measures do not actually protect players but are only beneficial for offshore sites and this is proven by the fact that problem gambling rates have remained at the same level in the past months.

Kindred highlighted that the correlation between the Covid-19 health crisis and problem gambling in Sweden at licensed Swedish operators has not been proven. The operator expressed its discontent by the government’s lack of actions against unlicensed gambling and its failure to take into account that unlicensed gambling sites that do not target Swedish customers are lawful according to the Gambling Act.

Kindred urged the government to create fair conditions for gambling players to choose licensed operators and to put unlicensed operators under more scrutiny.