The Administrative Court in Linköping has appealed against eleven decisions from the Gaming Inspection. All appealed decisions concern violations of the prohibition on providing betting on events where a predominant proportion of participants are under 18 years of age (see Chapter 8, Section 2 of the Gaming Act [2018: 1138]). Which eleven gaming companies with Swedish gaming licenses have done, according to the Gaming Inspection.

But the judgments from last year are now essentially fixed. This means that some of the companies have had their sentences reduced while some penalties remain. The highest penalty for one of the betting companies on the net is SEK 10 million. Together, there will be SEK 57,650,000 in penalties for the Swedish state.

- The new gaming law opened up the market. Last summer, most decisions were made based on the new legislation. So the punishment is applied already then. Now some have received reduced penalties but some penalties also remain, says the Administrative Court's counsel in Linköping Tomas Kjellgren to SVT Sport.

Almost a hundred players in the market

The Gaming Inspectorate is the authority that ensures that lotteries, casino games and other gambling activities in Sweden are carried out legally, safely and reliably. Today, 95 companies have active licenses in Sweden.

The purpose of preventing match fixing

The purpose of the current legal provision where betting on games where the predominant part is under 18 years is to prevent match fixing. The problem that this has not been followed to 100 per cent has SVT Sport noticed in a couple of matches lately.

Kjellman, however, does not believe that the last word has been said between the Gaming Inspectorate and the gaming companies.

- If you look at previous convictions and from a general perspective, there is more appeal to these types of convictions than to other types of convictions. The companies can apply to the Administrative Court of Appeal, which is a higher instance to try and get a hearing, concludes the Administrative Court's Kjellgren.