Court ruling forces Betsson to close betting shop

Betsson is forced to close its betting shop as a consequence of the Administrative Court of Appeal’s ruling the 7th of December. Unless the operation is shut down Betsson will get fined €250.000. Therefore the shop will close the 22nd of December at 11.00 AM, after 1.5 years of operation.

Currently Betsson is given no alternative than to close down the betting shop as the court’s ruling imply that Betsson will be fined regardless of an appeal. According to the Swedish Lottery Inspection the operation of the betting shop violates the Swedish Lottery law. Betsson on the other hand, argues the case of the Swedish Lottery Law is not compliant to the EC-law, thereby the law itself is illegal. - We are very surprised by the court’s ruling. We believe the state is violating the EC-treaty when shutting out private betting companies from the Swedish market, as they at the same time permits the state owned gambling companies to carry aggressive marketing. We will therefore appeal, said Pontus Lindwall, CEO Betsson. The EC-court has previously stated that a member state which actively through marketing encourage gambling through state owed gambling companies, cannot exclude private betting companies from the market. In November 2009 Betsson was awarded “Socially Responsible Operator of the Year”, by the gambling industry’s Oscar awards, the EGR awards. - Something is horribly wrong when Betsson, recognized as the world’s most socially responsible operator, cannot operate one betting shop, when Svenska Spel unopposed can operate more the 6 600 Jack Vegas gambling terminals, 6 700 outlets and 4 international casinos, said Lindwall According to Betsson’s management, he closure of the shop will have insignificant effect on the income statement, Media is invited to Pontus Lindwall’s official closure of the shop at 11.00 am, Götgatan 37, Tuesday the 22nd of December. For pictures of the shop, visit www.betssonab.com media gallery. For more information please contact: Pontus Lindwall, President and CEO, Tel: +46 (08) 556 967 10, +46 (0) 708 27 51 55, pontus@betsson.com