In a somewhat surprising development, the Swedish government has fined itself, with the country’s gambling authority Spelinspektionen issuing a SEK100m [$9.4m] penalty to Svenska Spel – the operator wholly owned by Sweden.

According to the indictment, the penalty relates to breaches of the Gambling Act part of Sweden’s re-regulation in 2019. More particularly, the operator has apparently failed to protect a number of customers from gambling harm when there were indications of problem gambling behaviour.

Fredrik Wastenson, CEO of Svenska Spel’s digital operations, commented: “We take the Gambling Inspectorate’s decision to heart. The inspection period covers October to December 2021 and we have already addressed many of the views. We have a high level of ambition in the work with our gaming responsibility.”