The Swedish Gambling Authority Spelinspektionen has fined Betway SEK 100,000 (€9,719) for violating rules relating to bonuses.
According to a statement released by the regulator, Betway customers were able to take advantage of the operator’s 200% match bonus that was launched and promoted in June of 2021.
Although the offer was initially supposed to go out to specific customers, Betway made it available to any player that had registered on its website or through its app. As a result, 52 customers took up the offer with 53 bonuses issued before the company had realized its error and removed the promotional offer.
In response to Spelinspektionen’s investigation, Betway stated that no customers had been negatively impacted by the mistake and that all customers were contacted by email and informed of the operator’s error. Betway also made changes to its internal processes so that employees would no longer be able to make promotional offers available so easily and has since implemented training for staff to ensure that any further breaches do not occur.
Despite the operator’s attempts to rectify the error, Spelinspektionen acknowledged that Betway had breached its licensing conditions by offering an ‘illegal bonus’ and must face a financial penalty.
However, the regulator did take the steps the company had taken into account when setting the fine stating:
“The Swedish Gambling Authority considers that Betway Limited has provided reliable information that the marketing campaign was a mistake and that the company has tried to minimise the damage that has occurred.
The Swedish Gambling Authority finds that the violation has been limited in time and number of players. Betway Limited has, upon immediate detection of the infringement, taken corrective action, as well as action to ensure what happened should not be repeated.”
Based in Galway, Ireland, Ciaran has over a decade of experience writing for some of the biggest names in the sports-betting, gambling, poker & casino industries.
