Bet365 operators lose appeal against SEK44m Swedish penalties

Sweden’s Administrative Court of Appeal has upheld warnings and financial penalties totalling SEK44 million against two companies operating Bet365, following breaches of player protection and deposit limit requirements.

Hillside (Gaming) ENC must pay SEK4 million, while Hillside (Sports) ENC faces a SEK40 million penalty. The court dismissed both companies’ appeals, agreeing that the sanctions were proportionate to the serious breaches identified.

Spelinspektionen announced the outcome on 14 October. Its case records date both appeal judgments to 8 October.

Delays in protecting vulnerable players

The  investigation found that Hillside did not act quickly or effectively enough when customers showed signs of excessive gambling.

"The Administrative Court of Appeal agrees with the Administrative Court's previous assessment that Hillside (Gaming) ENC and Hillside (Sports) ENC have been guilty of serious violations of the duty of care and the rules on deposit limits." - The Swedish Gambling Authority

Automated emails, pop-ups and spending reminders formed a substantial part of its response. However, customers continued gambling and losing money without sufficiently prompt escalation to manual reviews or stronger restrictions.

The regulator examined the 10 customers with the highest losses during a two-month period between October and December 2021, reviewing five profiles in greater detail.

Frequent deposits and substantial losses triggered Hillside’s internal risk detection system, but interventions were delayed or inconsistent. In some cases, stronger restrictions took almost a month to apply.

The findings concerned how Hillside responded after risks had been identified, including whether informational messages adequately addressed customers’ continued gambling.

“No limit” setting breached requirements

A separate issue concerned the deposit settings available between 1 January 2019 and 18 April 2022.

Customers could select a “no limit” option, despite Swedish requirements for players to actively choose maximum daily, weekly and monthly deposits.

Hillside argued that the option was subject to a technical ceiling of SEK500 million. However, that ceiling did not satisfy the requirement for customers to set their own deposit limits.

The courts rejected the company’s arguments that the arrangement was consistent with earlier guidance and that regulatory expectations lacked sufficient precision.

Earlier reductions remain in place

The penalties upheld on appeal had already been reduced by the Administrative Court in June 2024.

That court set the gaming company’s penalty at SEK4 million and the sports company’s at SEK40 million, taking account of the breaches, the businesses’ financial circumstances and other relevant factors. The appeal court agreed with those assessments.

Hillside also defended the general effectiveness of its risk detection system and questioned how representative the small customer sample was of its wider business.

Those arguments did not overturn the findings. Both companies retain warnings alongside their financial penalties.

The outcome reinforces the importance of effective follow-up when monitoring systems identify potential harm. Detecting risky behaviour and sending automated information did not, in the cases examined, amount to a sufficiently timely response.