Betway bonus penalty upheld in Swedish court

Betway was issued the SEK100,000 (£8,086/€9,525/$9,922) fine by Swedish gaming regulator Spelinspektionen in June 2021. It related to a 200% matched-deposit bonus, which was made available to all Swedish customers, rather than those registered with one as intended.

While the bonus was not actively marketed to customers, 52 took advantage of the promotion over the course of three hours.

Betway argued that the penalty should be lowered. The operator argued that the definition of a bonus is open to interpretation, and that as the offer was not promoted, it was not used to incentivise players to sign up to the brand.

Betway pointed out that it had taken action to ensure a similar situation did not arise in future, and noted that no players had lost any money as a result. Therefore, it argued, the infringement should be considered minor and the fine reduced as a result.

However, the Administrative Court ruled that the 200% matched-deposit offer did in fact constitute a bonus. As such, it ruled, there was no reason to reduce the fine levied, which it described as neither disproportionate nor too high.