Swedish Gambling Authority denies Casino Cosmopol special treatment
In a recent article previewing his upcoming Gambling Insider magazine column, secrety general of Branschföreningen för Onlinespel (BOS), Gustaf Hoffstedt, asked whether the Swedish state is giving preferential treatment to Government-owned Casino Cosmopol.
Speaking exclusively to Gambling Insider, Anders Sims, head
of communications at Swedish regulator Spelinspektionen (the Swedish Gambling
Authority/SGA), has denied the claim. In the first instance, the SGA believes
media coverage within Sweden has been "one sided" on the matter.
"As we see it we couldn't get through with our best
arguments, although we provided the journalist at Svenska Dagbladet with a lot
of information," Sims explained. "We got the feeling there was no
interest from the newspaper in presenting a more balanced picture. It was as
though their mind was already made up: the state's authority isn't capable of
controlling the state-owned casino."
The SGA further clarified it does not deem it fair to
"double punish" licence holders and, as such, believes Casino
Cosmopol should not have its licence restricted or denied.
This is because the brand has already been penalised for
anti-money laundering failings. The issue was a key point initially brought up
by Hoffstedt.
"One of the things we tried to explain to the
journalist is the relationship between issuing sanctions and licences, which is
addressed in your article by Gustaf Hoffstedt," Sims continued.
"A sanction issued by us in the current licence period
does not affect our assessment when the licence is to be renewed. In that
process we mainly look at the economic circumstances. We do not 'double punish'
licence holders. The sanctions and the licence renewal are two separate things.
And that goes for all licence holders.
"We have also had operators holding an online casino
licence that have received a five-year licence despite having received a
sanction in the previous licence period, without being preceded by a follow-up
on the violation. In the Casino Cosmopol case, however, we have done a
follow-up, but not on site, which partly can be explained by the fact casinos
have been closed for about a year."
In its conclusion, the SGA is unequivocal that it does not
treat Casino Cosmopol differently from the rest of the market.
According to the regulator, punishing the operator further
would in fact constitute the opposite, as it would be sanctioned to a greater
extent than anyone else in the sector.
Sims added: "So if the question asked in the article,
'does the Swedish state treat its own gaming company differently from other
players in the market?,' shall be answered based on the facts we have on the
table, the answer is no.
"Finally, we have never had a case where an operator
has received a shorter licence period twice due to the same violation. That would
be to treat Casino Cosmopol differently from other players in the market. But
that is what BOS is asking for, as I understand the article."
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