Swedish regulator reprimands bingo operator over signposting violation

While inspecting the operator’s website (Idrottensbingo.se) in September 2021, Spelinspektionen found a lack of logos displaying information on self-assessment tests, deposit limits, login time and suspension from games on the site’s logged out page – a violation of Sweden’s gaming legislation.

Information about the licensee, such as name, telephone number and email address were also missing.

When responding in October 2021, the Swedish Bingo Association claimed that the necessary information was visible when logged into the site, regardless of which type of device the player signed in with.

Spelinspektionen then carried out another inspection later that month and found that the required information was still missing from the logged out page. The Swedish Bingo Association rectified things in November 2021 by displaying the necessary information on the logged out page in addition to providing the licensee information.

The regulator decided that a reprimand was sufficient, stating that “the violations are not to be regarded as serious, but neither as minor nor excusable”.

Spelinspektionen director-general Camilla Rosenberg said: “In the current case, it appears that all logos according to the legislation have been placed at the top of both the regular website and the mobile-friendly website in logged-in mode, which means better protection for players than if the information had been completely missing. 

“The shortcoming regarding the logos was only a small part of the information linked to gaming responsibility. These circumstances are according to Spelinspektionen mitigating and show that there was no intention from Sweden Bingo Association’s page not to follow the regulations, or that it was about systematic shortcomings in the field of gambling responsibility.”

In July 2021, Spelinspektionen issued a warning to bingo operator Tombola for similar information display failings.