Today, the Gaming Control Board announced the verdicts of two regulatory cases involving Svenska Spel's failure to properly notify the gaming locations of ATMs at two bingo halls. The issue was purely due to an administrative misunderstanding regarding the handling of mobile ATMs at the time. Svenska Spel has changed and corrected its procedures during the regulatory period.
The regulatory issues involved ATMs at two different bingo halls that had moved to new addresses. The administrative misunderstanding was that Svenska Spel thought the address change should be reported to the Swedish Gambling Authority's registry. However, from July 1, 2023, the gambling regulations changed, meaning that when ATMs are relocated, the gaming locations must be notified and then tested.
Due to incorrect notifications, this meant that the ATM games at the two bingo halls were not under Svenska Spel's licensed protection after their relocation in July and September 2023. The Gambling Control Board also noted that the two locations of the bingo halls after relocation were not suitable as gaming venues for ATM games.
We regret what happened. We wanted to do the right thing, but due to an administrative misunderstanding, things went wrong. "This will not happen again," said Thomas Engström, Manager of Sales Operations at Svenska Spel Vegas.
The Swedish Gambling Control Board decided to issue a warning to Svenska Spel and impose a fine of 2 million Swedish Kronor.
During the regulatory process, Svenska Spel corrected the practice of moving ATMs and removed the ATMs from the relevant locations.
