Bet365’s Hillside Hit with $7.7M Penalty in Sweden

Spelinspektionen has issued a SEK65 million penalty to Hillside Sports and a SEK14 million penalty to Hillside Gaming, both operated by Bet365, with the total amount of the penalty amounting to $7.7 million at current exchange rates.

Spelinspektionen Delivers New Penalties against Hillside

The Swedish gambling regulator argued in a statement that the companies had failed to provide sufficient player protection measures resulting in the enforcement action. The regulator argued that there were not enough player-protection measures to help players reduce their gambling losses or intervene when excessive gambling was suspected.  

Spelinspektionen detailed that players were not asked to set deposit limits even when their spending should have triggered an intervention or international review. Player behavior was mostly not reviewed in such cases, which, in the opinion of the regulator, pointed to deficiencies in protecting consumers.

Spelinspektionen further added that the time it took the company to muster adequate measures was too long. Even when proposing and outlining a course of action, both companies have fallen short of delivering a clear description of what those measures should be, Spelinspektionen argued.

The breaches the regulator spoke of had taken place between October 17, 2021, and December 17, 2021. The regulator had specific accounts of individual cases that have led to the penalty.

Examining the Breaches and What They Mean

The regulator looked into the cases of three people who lost SEK261,593, SEK386,400, and SEK 259,372 over audited periods which, in the regulator’s opinion, should have triggered further checks which were lacking. The bets were lost with Hillside Sports.

Hillside Gaming committed similar breaches, according to Spelinspektionen, allowing a player to lose SEK287,263 between October 17 and November 27, with the account not establishing any deposit limits. Another player who had a monthly limit of SEK250,000 deposited 61 times during the audited period and ended up losing SEK73,730.

Another player managed to deposit 105 times and only made one withdrawal. They lost SEK104,512. According to the regulator, all of these instances pointed to serious deficiencies in the way the companies were handling their consumer protection. Betfair was similarly targeted in recent enforcement action by the regulator. Hillside Sports was already fined once in Sweden in the past – back in 2021, Spelinspektionen hit the company with a SEK1 million fine.