Spelinspektionen, a Swedish gambling regulator has ordered an immediate restriction on Satoshi Gaming Group.
The restriction was announced last Thursday. It stems from an investigation that found the Curacao-based operator had offered online gaming by its Trustdice.win platform without a license. Investigators found out that the site specifically targeted Swedish customers. These include marketing in Swedish.
Per se, Spelinspektionen is requesting that Satoshi immediately cease its operations.
In a statement, Spelinspektionen said that they consider that, in the interests of consumer protection and to guarantee gaming safety, it is important that the decision is complied with immediately. The decision shall, therefore, apply immediately.
Satoshi responded to an initial inquiry in February in the wake of regulatory scrutiny by asserting that it had blocked Swedish customers from using its site. Yet, Spelinspektionen conducted a follow-up investigation. It found that users still had access to the site by an alternative IP address.
The operator committed to implementing more restrictions against Swedish players based on these findings. This included removing all Swedish language from the Trustdice.win site. Still, Satoshi did not say when it would make these changes.
The regulator stated that Satoshi Gaming Group provides games in Sweden because the company’s website, trustdice.win has terms and conditions for participation in games in Swedish, as well as policy documents, FAQs and other information in Swedish.
It added that furthermore, the company markets itself to Swedish consumers through affiliates.
However, another inspection in April found that the site was still operating in violation of Sweden’s Gambling Act.
Satoshi had not ceased its operations in Sweden as of Thursday, in spite of orders from Spelinspektionen. It has not been specified by regulators what penalties they would seek if Satoshi kept on refusing to comply.
Spelinspektionen released a report in the previous week stating that offshore operators remain easily accessible for players in Sweden, cracking down on illegal gambling remains a fight for regulators. As per current law, regulators can only act against unlicensed operators who explicitly target consumers based on the direction criterion.
