Swedish court upholds SEK 44m in fines on bet365's operator

Sweden's Administrative Court of Appeal in Jönköping (Kammarrätten i Jönköping) has rejected appeals by Hillside (Sports) ENC and Hillside (Gaming) ENC, the two companies that offered gambling to Swedish players through bet365.com. The judgments, dated 8 October 2026 and published by the regulator Spelinspektionen on 14 October, leave in place a warning for each company and fines of SEK 40m for the sports betting company and SEK 4m for the casino company: SEK 44m in total.

The court agreed with the lower court that both companies seriously breached the duty of care in Sweden's Gambling Act (*omsorgsplikt*, chapter 14, section 1 of Spellagen 2018:1138) and the rules on mandatory deposit limits.

Two problems: slow escalation and "no limit"

The case started with a Spelinspektionen review of the 10 customers at each company who lost the most money between 17 October and 17 December 2021. The regulator then examined five of them in detail.

The first problem was speed. According to the decisions, Hillside contacted most of these customers early, using automated messages such as pop-ups, emails and reminders. But the customers kept playing heavily, and manual reviews and restrictions on their accounts came late, or not at all. The appeal court put the standard plainly: protective measures must keep pace with the gambling. If a customer shows extensive risk behaviour and a first message has no effect, the operator has to escalate quickly.

The second problem was deposit limits. Swedish law requires licensed sites to make players set a deposit limit per day, week and month. From 1 January 2019 to 18 April 2022, Hillside let customers pick "no limit" (our translation of *ingen gräns*) instead (customers returning from self-exclusion were the exception). Hillside said the system still had a technical ceiling of SEK 500m. The lower court did not accept that as a real limit, because the point of the rule is that players actively decide how much they can afford. The appeal court did not see the deposit-limit question any differently.

What Hillside argued

Hillside argued that five customers were a tiny fraction of its customer base and could not show a failure of its overall player-protection work. In the sports betting case, it said every customer in the sample received a first contact and follow-ups, 60% were later closed off by the company and another 20% self-excluded. It also called the fines disproportionate. The court rejected those arguments and found the amounts proportionate, giving particular weight to how long the deposit-limit breach lasted.

How the fines got here

Swedish fines can reach 10% of the licence holder's turnover from licensed gambling in the previous financial year. On that basis, the appeal court put the ceiling at SEK 72m for the sports company and SEK 6.9m for the casino company. In both cases the sanction is a warning plus a fine.

The judgments include instructions on how to appeal further. A further appeal would go to Sweden's Supreme Administrative Court (Högsta förvaltningsdomstolen), which first has to grant leave to hear it.

What it means for players

The breaches date from 2019 to 2022. For anyone playing at a Swedish-licensed site, the case is a useful reminder of what the rules require: you must set a deposit limit per day, week and month, and "no limit" is not an option. The appeal court also spelled out what it expects from operators: if a first message has no effect on a customer showing extensive risk behaviour, the operator has to escalate quickly.

Related coverage: what changed in the UK's deposit-limit rules on 30 September, the Dutch regulator's case against 711 over wagering on deposits and its new guidance on checking players' bank-account names.

18+. Gambling can be addictive. If it stops being fun, see our responsible gambling page. In Sweden, you can block yourself from all licensed gambling through Spelpaus.se.