Swedish media outlets lose appeal against Lottoinspektionen
Court upholds right of regulator to prohibit media firms from posting links to illegal sites
The authority of the Swedish gambling regulator to issue injunctions and fine media operators promoting unlicensed international online gambling operators has been upheld by the Swedish chamber of commerce.
Swedish evening newspapers Aftonbladet and Expressen questioned the authority of the regulator to issue injunctions against over providing links to non-Swedish gambling sites on their respective websites, stating that this infringed on the businesses freedom of expression rights.
Under section 38 of the Swedish lotteries act (1994), the promotion of participation in a lottery out of Sweden for professional or for the purposes of customer acquisition is prohibited. In accordance with section 52 of the same act, the regulator has the authority to issue injunctions against operators deemed to be contravening this ban, with further powers to issue fines for non-compliance.
In September 2013, Lottoinspektionen filed an injunction against both outlets demanding that they cease providing links to international gaming sites on their websites.
However, judges at the Chamber of Commerce dismissed this assertion claiming that publishing links to international gambling sites is a “measure of pronounced commercial nature” that is not subject to protection under freedom of expression laws. The chamber also reaffirmed that the prohibition within the lotteries act did not contravene EU law.
Camilla Rosenberg, director general of Lottoinspektionen, welcomed the ruling: “It is positive that the tribunal will take a stand against promotion of lotteries without permission in Sweden. We assume that anyone who violates the promotion ban by linking to or promoting foreign gaming sites now ends with this,” she said.
As a result of the ruling, the Chamber of Commerce confirmed that it will not examine similar injunctions made by the regulator against TV4 AB, City Media AB and JCDecaux Sweden over the advertising and promotion of international gaming sites.
The recent Swedish gambling act, which comes into force in January 2019, includes a similar prohibition widening current prohibitions to include the promotion of unauthorised games.