Sweden rejects appeal against underage gambling penalty

Sweden rejects appeal against underage gambling penalty

Added:
Sweden rejects appeal against underage gambling penalty

The Linköping Administrative Court in Sweden has rejected an appeal against a fine worth SEK20,000 (or €1,932) for underage gambling which was given to the Liseberg theme park by the local gambling authority, Spelinspektionen.

The Swedish Court has verified the decision made by Spelinspektionen, after the authority penalised the amusement park with a fine due to its investigation which proved that the park was allowing minors (under 18) to play with the claw machines. The country’s law states that claw machines are a type of slot machine offering products as opposed to money as a prize, and mentions that only adults are eligible to use them.

Liseberg appealed against this penalty which was allocated in September of last year, as it noted that it had not been familiar with the law surrounding claw machines in Sweden.

Spelinspektionen mentioned:

“In light of the purpose of the legislation, the Administrative Court makes the same assessment as the Swedish Gaming Inspectorate, that it was a matter of a serious violation.”

Spelinspektionen received a tip-off which led it to investigate the amusement park and revealed that minors had been using the machines with adults, as there were no signs in the park that mentioned anything about minimum age requirements for the claw machines.

Liseberg further mentioned that it had thought that the age restrictions were not applied anymore when it renewed its licence back in early 2019. Therefore, it got rid of the age requirements signs across the park, which were later put back when it was told that they were necessary.

Despite the fact that Spelinspektionen considered Liseberg’s issue to be a serious breach of the Swedish Gaming Act, the authority chose not to suspend its licence as it saw little to no chance of the park causing further offences. Claw machines are seen as being a low-risk type of gambling, so the fine was set at SEK20,000.

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