The Swedish gambling authority, Spelinspektionen, has fined Hillside ENC, which operates Bet365, for repeated social responsibility failures.
The regulator issued two fines:
- Hillside (Gaming) was fined SEK 14 million (€1,233,437)
- Hillside (Sports) was fined SEK 65 million (€5,726,671)
According to the regulator’s announcement, the company failed to take sufficient measures to protect its users from the harms of gambling on both its online casino and sports betting platforms. Spelinspektionen’s investigation revealed that Hillside repeatedly failed to help gamblers limit their losses through customer interaction or the placing of limits on the customer’s account.
Online casino failings
In one instance a customer had been a user of the bet365 online casino since 2020 and despite significant losses of SEK 287,623 (€25,334) during a single month, no deposit limits were put in place by the operator. Placing deposit limits on customer accounts that are showing potential signs of problem gambling is one of the social responsibility requirements of all license holders in Sweden.
Another online casino customer was advised to set a deposit limit on their account but chose to ignore bet365’s suggestion. No further attempt was made to limit their deposits despite the user gambling excessively over a 5-day period. According to the regulator, this is a serious social responsibility failure on the operator’s part.
Sports betting failings
The investigation revealed that an 18 year old customer displayed clear signs of developing a gambling problem. These included excessive activity and an increase in daily deposits. Bet365 contacted the customer and asked them to complete a self assessment. The company deemed that there was no cause for alarm and allowed the user to continue making deposits with no limits. While Bet365 did continue to contact the user about their activity, the regulator feels that more could have been done to limit their losses.
In several other instances, customers lost significant amounts — one lost SEK 314,490 (€27,701). While Bet365 did contact the individuals, Spelinspektionen felt that the messages did not reflect the seriousness of the issue nor highlight the dangers of excessive gambling in a way which would encourage the users to limit their wagers or deposits.
As a result of the investigation into both the online casino and online sports betting platforms Hillside ENC (Bet365) has also been warned over its responsibilities and future behavior towards potential problem gamblers.
This brings the total fines for 2023 to more than €56.1 million with Spelinspektionen’s fines amounting to just over €7.2 million of that figure.
According to industry fines tracker website GamblingIndustryFines.com, gambling industry fines in 2022 came to €251,712,034 / $269,532,490 – a significant increase of 443.9% compared to 2021’s total of €44,753,969 / $48,642,992.
Gambling industry journalist with a background in online poker and trading. Covering the regulated U.S Sports industry and the exciting world of online poker.