The Swedish Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by Spelinspektionen, upholding a ruling that annulled an injunction against payment provider Zimpler AB.
In July 2023, Spelinspektionen ordered Zimpler to cease working with unlicensed operators in Sweden, including providing services like BankID for offshore gambling transactions. The regulator warned that non-compliance could result in a fine of up to SEK 25 million (€2.2 million/$2.3 million/£1.8 million).
Zimpler challenged the order and appealed within weeks. The administrative court ruled that Spelinspektionen lacked sufficient grounds for the injunction and canceled the order. In response, Spelinspektionen appealed to the Linköping administrative court in June, arguing that Zimpler’s payment services supported and promoted illegal gambling by working with unlicensed operators.
However, at a recent hearing, the Court of Appeal ruled in favor of Zimpler, dismissing Spelinspektionen’s appeal. As a result, the annulment of the injunction remains in effect.
The court mentioned:
Spelinspektionen has not shown there was illegal gambling, nor that Zimpler has promoted such. The appeal should therefore be rejected.
The Court of Appeal highlighted gaps in Sweden’s gambling regulations, noting that while Zimpler had worked with unlicensed operators, the lack of regulatory clarity meant it was not at fault.
A key issue was the ambiguity in defining when an operator is targeting Swedish players. Currently, offshore operators offering services in English are not considered to be directly targeting Swedish consumers, making it difficult to enforce stricter measures.
The court added:
The Court finds all provision of games by gambling companies that lack a Swedish licence is not prohibited under the Gambling Act.
This applies, for example, to such online games that are not aimed at the Swedish market.
The Act and its preparatory work lack further concreteness regarding what is required for a gambling company to be considered to be targeting Sweden. This alone means the Court finds there were no conditions for Spelinspektionen to formulate the injunction against Zimpler.
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