News

Monday, March 12, 2007
Swedish court ruling against online gambling ads

The Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet has been condemned last week by a Swedish Court for advertising for a unauthorised betting website. It has been fined the equivalent of US$ 21 thousand for any future violation.

Aftonbladet has been unable to resist the advertising income from Maltese based "Expekt", which is a betting website that is illegal in Sweden, but offers betting in Swedish on Swedish horseracing without the agreement of the Swedish racing's rightholders and obviously without paying for the racing product. It also offers its services in other languages of countries where it is illegal.

The Swedish law forbids its citizen from betting through websites in soft jurisdictions like Malta and also prohibits by law the advertising. However, the Gaming Board can only collect the fines after all legal appeal procedures have been exhausted. In the mean time, the illegal website, but also bankcard company Visa will continue to benefit from illegal betting.