Spelinspektionen, the Swedish regulator, has imposed fine on Mandalorian Technologies and Betway for violating gambling regulations.

According to the Swedish regulations, license holders are only permitted to offer customers a single bonus, however, an investigation found that customers were continually offered bonuses by Mandalorian and Betway.

Mandalorian and Betway have been handed warning from the regulator and issued with penalty fees of SEK9m (£730k) and SEK5m (£406k) respectively.

“As the Spelinspektionen already had indications at the beginning of the year that some gaming companies did not comply with the legislation, on February 19, the authorities issued a letter to all licensees regarding bonus offers. After the letter, the Gaming Inspectorate noted some compliance from the licensees, but the assessment is that further measures must also be taken to achieve full compliance,” Spelinspektionen stated.

“The main purpose of the new gambling regulation, which came into force on January 1, 2019, is to strengthen consumer protection and reduce the negative effects of gambling. The limitation on bonuses is contained in the law to reduce social and economic damage and problem playing. The Gaming Inspectorate will therefore continue to focus on supervision of this area,” Spelinspektionen continued.

Players in Austria have filed lawsuit against the online casino websites, reclaiming the losses incurred over a period of past two and a half years. It is estimated that players who have filed the lawsuit lost sums to the tune of €3,000 over the past two and a half years.

OVWG, the Austrian Association for Betting and Gambling, said that the gambling operators would have to contest the lawsuit on their own. The lawsuit is filed against the gambling operators who were offering online gambling without having the necessary permits to operate in Austria.

AdvoFin, the Vienna-based legal services company, claims that the customers who lost money with the online casinos have a legal base to get their refunds. The firm is positive about getting gambling operators to pay back the losses.

Buenos Aires Province Institute of Lottery and Casinos (IPLyC, in Spanish) has published the terms and conditions for the operators to apply for online gambling license. The deadline for proposals expires on June 25 and19 companies have already registered.

The license for operating the business will be granted by the IPLyC, as a result of the call for bids, and the regulator will be able to issue up to seven licenses for a 15-year period, not extendable.

The regulation underlines a basic requirement of minimum two-year experience in the sector and a provable annual total income in excess of 50,000,000 pesos.

As per the terms and conditions, “the executive branch shall establish the relevant regulations of the title for its practice” and “the enforcement authority will be the Buenos Aires Province Institute of Lottery and Casinos, which will establish the modality regulation for online gambling”, stating that “any modality unauthorized by the enforcement authority is considered prohibited”.

The participation fee cost 5,500,000 pesos, and each applicant is allowed for only single proposal. Once the license has been granted, each licensee must pay the amount of 65,000,000 pesos as a single fixed charge. In addition, a security deposit of 130,000,000 pesos has to be paid.

A technical evaluation committee will consider the items related to licenses, experience, financial assessment, product analysis, technical system, responsible gaming, and fraud prevention plan. Based on the results, points will be generated for each operator.