The Swedish Gaming Authority, Speinspektionen, has warned fintech company Zimpler AB to stop providing its payment service solutions to unlicensed gambling websites.
An investigation carried out by the regulator revealed that the company’s BankID solution was being used by multiple gaming companies that operate unlicensed online gambling websites in the Swedish market. BankID is an e-identification service that is used exclusively in Sweden. As a result, Spelinspektionen has surmised that all websites providing the service are targeting the Swedish market.
Zimpler has now been warned that it must withdraw its services to illegal websites before July 31st 2023. If the company fails to do so, a financial penalty of SEK 25 million (€2.1 million) will come into immediate effect.
According to Swedish gaming regulations which were updated from January 1st 2023, it is illegal to promote or facilitate any form of participation in illegal gambling through unlicensed websites. By providing its payment services, Zimpler was found to have breached this new regulation.
Sweden’s regulator, has issued 3 financial penalties totaling SEK 89,333,910 (€7,513,452) since the start of 2023. Should this latest penalty be enforced, that total would pass the SEK 100 million mark with 5 months of the year left.
According to the latest figures collated by Gamblingindustryfines.com, the first six months of 2023 saw gambling regulators across Europe, North America, and Australia issue fines totaling more than €75 million.
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