Million-dollar fine for Kindred Group significantly reduced by Swedish gaming authority SGA

Kindred Group the parent company of online casino Unibet, sees the fine for breaching bonus rules in Sweden significantly reduced.

Kindred was first hit with a fine of SEK 100 million (€9. 5 million) by the Swedish Gambling Authority (SGA) in 2020. Now this is down to SEK 30 million or €20. 8 million.

Confusing rules led to fine

The issues arose in 2019 when Kindred, via its subsidiary Spooniker Ltd, was deemed by the SGA to be offering overly enticing bonuses. The gambling authority ruled that certain promotions and activities constituted financial incentives and therefore fell under bonus regulations. Kindred immediately amended its offerings following the SGA’s warning.

Legal battle over interpretation

Kindred filed a precedent-setting appeal of the fine in an effort to get clarification on how the new law should be interpreted. The fine was lowered to SEK 50 million by the court which upheld the appeal. The Court of Appeal has since further lowered the fine to SEK 30 million.

Kindred still believes fine is too high

While Kindred welcomes the reduction it maintains that the fine is still excessive. The company argues that the rules were vague and open to interpretation and therefore the original fine was disproportionate.