Spelinspektionen: Underage Match Controversy

March 29, 2021 0

Swedish regulator Spelinspektionen has delivered a warning to Bet365 operator Hillside Sports after the company offered bets on a friendly match that unfortunately contained a majority of players that were under the age of 18 years old.

The case in question is regarding a training match played on the 28th of March last year in two thousand and twenty between teams Kronängs IF and Mariedals IK. Bet365 did in fact offer odds for this game, and reviewing the match did indicate that twenty-four of the thirty-four players were under the age of 18 years old.

Hillside argued that they are more than allowed to offer odds on a match, as the game was not specifically played or performed for players that were underage. It then added that it also took immediate actions of correction to guarantee odds would not be offered on matches of similar qualities, including ceasing bets on lower-division friendly matches. All bets that were placed on this training match were then declared null and void.

Spelinspektionen stated in addition that this violation was in violation of the Gambling Act, and would only be issuing a warning and claiming that only that was an appropriate judgment. They then began to point out that through the actions of Hillside, further underage betting had been prevented and this one-time occasion was little more than that.

This warning and penalty action are following SEK10m's similar sanction that was cast down in June of two thousand and nineteen as part of an action against 8 different operators, all guilty of betting on under-age matches. Hillside appealed this decision twice, once after being dismissed in the Administrative Court, and then appealing once again inside of the Court of Appeals.

Spelinspektionen has also appointed its board for the years 2021 and 2022.