Swedish Regulator Slaps Videoslots with Huge Fine

Sweden’s Gambling Authority (Spelinspektionen) has warned online gambling operator Videoslots Ltd and fined the company SEK 12 million ($1.3 million) for not meeting crucial regulatory requirements to protect players.

Swedish Gambling Authority Penalizes Videoslots for Lapses in Player Protection Measures

The fine comes after an investigation that began in early 2024. The probe aimed to check if Videoslots had fulfilled its responsibilities under Sweden’s Gambling Act. Spelinspektionen found that the company did not take effective steps to curb excessive gambling. It also did not respond well enough when it spotted warning signs.

The investigation looked at how 12 customers behaved, including some young players, over three months. The regulator found that these people showed signs of gambling problems. They often played late at night, put money in their accounts many times, and lost a lot of cash — some of them more than hundreds of thousands of Swedish kronor. Some customers played almost every day and added money to their accounts dozens of times in one day.

Videoslots had systems to spot risky behavior, but the regulator said the company did not do enough or was too slow to act. They tried things like pop-up warnings, emails, and calls to check on players, but these did not change how people played. Sometimes, the company lets people keep playing even after their systems show there might be a problem, and they do not follow up well enough.

Swedish Regulator Rejects Videoslots’ Defense, Cites Delayed Action on At-Risk Players

Videoslots claimed it had invested in tools and staff for responsible gambling. The company also asked if the period under review was long enough to see behavior patterns. Videoslots brought up data privacy issues as a factor that limited its ability to assess player risk profiles, but Spelinspektionen dismissed this argument. The regulator said privacy rules do not trump gambling regulations.

The regulator stressed that the company’s slow and ineffective response had major effects on individual players. The authority found the handling of younger customers concerning, as this group is thought to be more likely to experience gambling harm.

Spelinspektionen said Videoslots collaborated during the probe and has since improved its procedures, but the agency still believed the breaches were serious. Yet, because of the fixes already in progress, it decided a warning and a financial penalty were enough, not going as far as taking away the license.

This is the second big regulatory move against Videoslots in Sweden in recent years. In 2023, the company also had to pay a fine for failing to follow anti-money laundering rules, showing that its Swedish operations are still under close watch.