Swedish regulator escalates Unibet sponsorship row
Stockholm Marathon warned to comply or face the courts after failing provide details on Unibet deal
The Swedish Gambling Authority (Lotteriinspektionen) is prepared to take the organisers of the Stockholm Marathon to court in its attempts to terminate its sponsorship deal with Unibet.
The warning came after Lotteriinspektionen said the marathon organisers had failed to respond to requests for information on the Unibet agreement “ a deal the regulator views to be in violation of the Swedish Lottery Act.
Lotteriinspektionen had originally asked the organisers to respond to its request by 24 April but has since been forced to issue a formal deadline of 30 May, the day before the marathon takes place, after which it would then seek a court injunction.
“The organisers of the event have three weeks from last Friday to respond to our formal demand,” a Lotteriinspektionen spokesperson told eGaming Review.
“That leaves the organisers with the following choices: comply or fail to comply. If failing to comply a court may finally have to take a decision on the injunction,” the spokesperson warned.
Although a Swedish firm, Unibet is licensed and based in Malta and Section 38 of the Lottery Act states that it is prohibited for companies to promote for profit the participation in “lotteries arranged outside the country”.
When asked for comment, a spokesperson for the Stockholm Marathon said it was “looking in to the laws at the moment”.
The row erupted last month after Unibet was announced as the main sponsor of the marathon as part of a deal which includes branding opportunities for the gambling operator around the 26-mile course in the Swedish capital.
The issue comes amid increasing concerns relating to the promotion of foreign gambling operators in Sweden with the Swedish government set to assess whether national legislation can be changed to prevent or forbid advertising by operators based outside of the country.