Swedish Court Rejects Zecure Gaming’s Final Appeal Over Fine

Zecure Gaming missed its last chance to avoid a substantial fine of SEK 3 million ($283,092) as its appeal was rejected by the Swedish Supreme Administrative Court. The fine was imposed by the Swedish gambling watchdog back in 2019 and Zecure Gaming tried to appeal the decision three times.

Zecure Gaming Was Fined for Offering Bets on Underage Sports

Zecure Gaming received a license for offering betting services on the Swedish market in December 2018. This license, however, explicitly excluded wagering on sports events where most of the players are under 18 years of age. In March 2019, Spelinspektionen (Swedish Gambling Authority – SGA) received information that Zecure Gaming has offered to bet on a soccer match between youth teams. The match in question was played on January 28, 2019, between the teams of Georgia U17 and Slovakia U17. As a result, in June the SGA imposed a fine of SEK 3.5 million ($330,200) on Zecure Gaming.

Zecure Gaming explained that this betting offer was made due to a technical mistake. The company has a filter in its gaming system which makes sure that data regarding underage sports events delivered from external providers does not reach customers in Sweden. However, there was a mistake in the filter’s configuration, which led to this match being offered together with other wagering options. The company has highlighted that the problem has been resolved and that additional manual controls have been introduced so that such mistakes do not happen in the future.

Court Appeals by Zecure Gaming

Despite the explanation from Zecure Gaming, SGA did note discard the fine. Consequently, Zecure Gaming appealed the decision by SGA to the relevant Swedish administrative court. In April 2020, the court partially approved Zecure Gaming’s claim and reduced the fine to SEK 3 million ($283,092). Still not happy with the court’s decision, Zecure Gaming appealed to the next instance. That happened in June 2021. The appeal was to the Swedish court of appeal, which reaffirmed the decision by the administrative court for a fine of SEK 3 million ($283,092).

Zecure Gaming tried for the last time appealing to the highest instance – the Swedish Supreme Administrative Court. However, on July 13, 2022 that appeal was also rejected. SGA made a statement on the court proceedings saying:

The decision was appealed first to the Administrative Court and then to the Court of Appeal, both of which rejected the appeal. Zecure Gaming thus appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court, which did not grant leave to appeal.

SGA

The decision of the Swedish Supreme Administrative Court is final and Zecure Gaming shall have to pay the fine imposed by SGA and reduced by the Swedish administrative court.