Betway receives warning in Sweden for negative equity
Betway has received a warning from the Swedish Gaming Supervisory Authority for having been in negative equity in 2019. [Image: Shutterstock.com]
The capital guarantee is not enough
Betway has received a warning from the Swedish Gaming Authority (SGA) for its failure to follow licensing rules for minimum capital. In July 2020, SGA requested the annual report and auditor’s report from Betway for the financial year 2019.
negative equity of EUR 4.8 million (USD 5.4 million)
For this period, Betway had a loss of EUR 50.3 million ($ 56.5 million) and a negative equity of EUR 4.8 million ($ 5.4 million). SGA believes that an operator may be at risk if they have negative equity and asked Betway how it could improve its negative equity situation. This led to Betway receiving a capital guarantee from its parent group in October 2021.
The Swedish Gambling Authority stated that Betway did not have its own capital base and is completely dependent on parent company support. SGA also said that the parent company’s capital guarantee only partially compensates for the negative equity.
Just a warning
As a result of the situation, Betway was said to be in breach of the gaming law’s rule describing how licensed operators need to demonstrate their suitability to operate in the market. As such, SFA issued a warning to Betway for this “minor” intrusion, but no financial penalty. Betway has already said that it has a strong financial position and will be able to meet all licensing requirements in the future.
This is not the first time that Betway has ended up in hot water with SGA. In December, it was fined SEK 100,000 ($ 10,773) for accidentally allowing all its customers to access a bonus campaign that was intended as a welcome offer for one of the company’s smaller brands.
A tightly regulated market
Betway has been active in Sweden since the launch of the country’s regulated market in January 2019, securing a five-year license. Its parent company is one of the largest global online gambling operators and is in a sound financial situation.
The Swedish Gaming Authority has gained a reputation for being very strict
The Swedish Gaming Authority has gained a reputation for being very strict. It has handed out a large number of fines to licensees for a variety of types of infringements. For example, ComeOn Group’s brands were fined a total of $ 21 million last year.
The Swedish government also introduced significant restrictions for online casino players during large parts of the covid-19 pandemic. It recently considered reintroducing these restrictions, but scrapped those plans this week.