Lotteriinspektionen, the Swedish gambling regulator, has claimed victory after Aftonbladet and Expressen, both nation ’s leading papers, were told they cannot provide links to unregulated offshore businesses.
Both papers appealed an injunction enforced by Lotteriinspektionen in 2013 demanding they cease promoting links to overseas online gaming sites.
The Chamber of Commerce civil court found that supplying links to offshore gambling advertising is a step of a pronounced business nature which isn’t protected by the freedom of expression. The Swedish court ruled that the advertising ban in the lottery law isn’t contrary to EU law.
Camilla Rosenberg, director general of Lotteriinspektionen, said:
Lottery Act 1994 prohibits boosting participation in a lottery organised in overseas nations for specialist purposes. The Swedish regulator claimed that clickable hyperlinks hosted by both papers were promotions, in a similar nature to conventional advertising.
Lotteriinspektionen has issued a number of court orders contrary to other media companies regarding the exact same type of linking. According to the Lottery Act, Lotteriinspektionen can notify the injunctions and prohibits necessary for compliance with the law and impose penalties.
The new Game Act 2018 will become law in January 2019 plus it also prohibits promoting matches not regulated in the country.
