The Swedish gambling authority, Spelinspektionen, has fined Hillside ENC, which operates Bet365, for repeated social responsibility failures.
The regulator issued two fines:
- Hillside (Gaming) was fined SEK 14 million (€1,233,437) Swedish Gambling Regulator Fines Bet365 for Social Responsibility Failures
According to the regulator’s announcement, the company failed to take sufficient measures to protect its users from the harms of gambling on both its online casino and sports betting platforms. Spelinspektionen’s investigation revealed that Hillside repeatedly failed to help gamblers limit their losses through customer interaction or the placing of limits on the customer’s account.
Online casino failings
In one instance a customer had been a user of the bet365 online casino since 2020 and despite significant losses of SEK 287,623 (€25,334) during a single month, no deposit limits were put in place by the operator. Placing deposit limits on customer accounts that are showing potential signs of problem gambling is one of the social responsibility requirements of all license holders in Sweden.
Swedish Gambling Regulator Fines Bet365 for Social Responsibility FailuresSports betting failings
The investigation revealed that an 18 year old customer displayed clear signs of developing a gambling problem. These included excessive activity and an increase in daily deposits. Bet365 contacted the customer and asked them to complete a self assessment. The company deemed that there was no cause for alarm and allowed the user to continue making deposits with no limits. While Bet365 did continue to contact the user about their activity, the regulator feels that more could have been done to limit their losses.
Swedish Gambling Regulator Fines Bet365 for Social Responsibility Failures Swedish Gambling Regulator Fines Bet365 for Social Responsibility FailuresThis brings the total fines for 2023 to more than €56.1 million with Spelinspektionen’s fines amounting to just over €7.2 million of that figure.
According to industry fines tracker website GamblingIndustryFines.com, gambling industry fines in 2022 came to €251,712,034 / $269,532,490 – a significant increase of 443.9% compared to 2021’s total of €44,753,969 / $48,642,992.
Gambling industry journalist with a background in online poker and trading. Covering the regulated U.S Sports industry and the exciting world of online poker.