Global Gaming not appealing latest SafeEnt licence revocation rejection
The Swedish Administrative Court of Appeal has rejected SafeEnt’s latest appeal against its licence revocation, upholding the decision by the regulator to withdraw the permit for commercial online gambling and betting.
Global Gaming, of whom SafeEnt is a subsidiary which runs the igaming entity Ninja Casino alongside spellandet.com, will not lodge a further appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court – as is a permitted course of action.
The court judged that the company “has during the current time violated provisions in the Gaming Act on deposit limits for online games, customer contact, bonus offers and measures against money laundering”. Due to this, it says that there is reason for intervention under the Gaming Act.
Overall, the board of Global Gaming commented that it “welcomes the fact that the ruling has now been announced, and a consequence of this is that clear and distinct conditions for Global Gaming’s future operations now also exist”.
It adds that due to operational adjustment made following the Spekinspektionen’s decision, it is of the opinion that this latest judgement will have “no impact” on current or planned activities.
Speaking in a statement on behalf of the board of Global Gaming, it was added: “This has been a process that the company’s current newly appointed board inherited. The board has taken note of today’s judgment, and fully shares the views expressed by both the Administrative Court of Appeal and the previous court and thus also the Spelsinspekionen in the case.
“The board would like to point out that it took office only a few weeks before the hearing in the Court of Appeal, and in the then and still ongoing bidding process that Global Gaming is undergoing, measures that can be interpreted are of such a nature that they may undermine the value of the shares. In this case, companies under acquisition, not suitable or may be prohibited.
“Due to this, there was no reasonable opportunity for the board to stop the ongoing case even before the hearing in the Court of Appeal.”
On June 17, 2019, the Spelinspektionen revoked the licence of Global Gaming’s SafeEnt subsidiary related to the provision of betting and commercial online gaming in Sweden.
This was subsequently appealed to the Administrative Court and rejected; a decision which prompted a further appeal to the Administrative Court of Appeal.
“We have made a balance between the circumstances that speak for and against the revocation of the license. In this case, we consider that a warning is not a sufficient measure. The Spelinspektionen’s decision to revoke the company’s license should therefore not be changed,” noted Anders Poulsen, councillor of the Court of Appeal.
The Spelinspektionen welcomes the decision of one of “great importance” for the re-regulated gaming market, adding: “All licensed players must follow the existing rules.
“It is particularly important that rules of great importance for the protection of consumers are complied with. If we are to ensure a healthy and safe gaming market, we must exclude those players who do not comply with essential parts of current regulations”.
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