Videoslots ordered to pay £942,670 in Sweden

Spelinspektionen has also issued a warning to Videoslots in Sweden after finding the company had breached the duty of care rules outlined in Chapter 14, Section 1 of Sweden’s Gambling Act.

In spring of 2024, Spelinspektionen opened an investigation into Videoslots’ activity to ensure it was meeting its duty of care requirements.

Having observed the company’s procedures, Spelinspektionen ruled it had not taken sufficiently effective measures to counteract excessive gambling. Nor did the operator act quickly enough.

“The violation may be considered serious in the same respect because it has negatively affected individual players in such a way that they have lost large amounts of money in a short period of time.

“The company shall therefore be given a warning combined with a penalty fee,” the regulator said.

Why has Videoslots been sanctioned?

In December, Spelinspektionen sent a preliminary assessment of its findings to Videoslots, which said it had not breached the duty of care and had invested in systems and personnel to ensure compliance in the area was met.

Spelinspektionen analysed the information of 12 customers over a three-month period, but Videoslots believed this was an insufficient timespan to assess the long-term relationship between bettors and operators.

Videoslots employs an automated system to monitor bettors’ behaviour, which triggers when certain risk indicators are met. Additionally, the company prevents customers from making further deposits when certain thresholds have been reached.

However, Spelinspektionen ruled a total of 12 customers had been found to be gambling excessively and Videoslots’ attempts to halt such activities had been insufficient.

“Videoslots has not helped customers to reduce their gambling when there was reason to do so,” Spelinspektionen explained.

“The Swedish Gambling Authority assesses that the shortcomings in the company’s duty of care work on an overall level have consisted of the fact that the measures the company has taken have not been effective, that the company’s follow-up of the measures taken has not been sufficient and that the company has taken too long to take measures and follow up on their effect.”

Spelinspektionen noted that, while three of the customers had been flagged by the system for excessive gambling, the bettors had already been gambling at such high levels for almost three months.

Although Videoslots made contact with the customers towards the end of that period, this consisted of a number of pop-up and email messages, as well as failed attempts to initiate care calls, which ultimately had no effect on the bettors’ activities.

Data protection regulations

Videoslots claimed it had to carefully consider what personal data could be used to assess a player’s risk level in Sweden.

It said that during the review period, there had been no provision in the Gambling Act allowing the company to access personal data relating to player health and finances. This therefore limited its ability to process such data.

Spelinspektionen disputed that claim, however, responding: “The Data Protection Regulation therefore does not limit the company’s obligation to comply with the gambling regulation’s provisions on the duty of care.”

With five of the 12 players specifically identified as young customers, the regulator deemed this an aggravating aspect.

“As stated in the Swedish Gambling Authority’s guidance on duty of care, this group is particularly vulnerable and should therefore be given special attention when implementing the duty of care,” Spelinspektionen added.

Mitigating circumstances

Spelinspektionen did say the operator had cooperated with the regulator during the investigation, although it said this is what is expected from a licensed company.

Videoslots subsequently made improvements to its procedures, after taking into account the regulator’s findings.

These improvements included streamlining the processes for monitoring and evaluating its measures on excessive gambling.

“The Swedish Gambling Authority assesses that the improvement measures together give the company greater opportunities to monitor and, if necessary, restrict customers’ gambling,” Spelinspektionen said.

Spelinspektionen said the company’s quick response meant a warning and sanction fee were sufficient and it did not need to review the operator’s licence.

In 2023 Videoslots was handed down another penalty in Sweden over breaches of anti-money laundering (AML) and financing of terrorism laws. This amounted to SEK9m (£663,575/€760,000/$808,809).