Kindred Group secures reduced penalty in bonus rules dispute

Kindred Group has been successful in its appeal against a fine imposed on the company's Spooniker subsidiary by Sweden’s gambling regulator.

The fine relates to bonus rules violations that occurred in the early days of the re-regulated Swedish gambling market in 2019, with the penalty now reduced to less than one third of the original amount imposed by the regulator.

Swedish gambling regulator Spelinspektionen had imposed a SEK100m penalty on Kindred Group subsidiary Spooniker in 2020 for offering unauthorised bonuses on its website in Sweden in early 2019.

This prompted a legal challenge by Kindred, which argued that the rules lacked clarity and were being interpreted too broadly by the regulator.

As a result of the challenge, the fine was halved to SEK50 million in 2021, with the Administrative Court of Appeal in Jönköping further reducing this amount to SEK30 million in a ruling dated Monday 27 May.

Kindred continues to maintain that the bonus rules were vague and that the fine should be lifted in its entirety.

Shares in Kindred Group plc. (STO:KIND-SDB) were trading marginally lower at SEK124.20 per share in Stockholm Tuesday morning.