Tombola warned in Sweden about lack of informational responsibility

Tombola International has received a warning from the Swedish Gaming Authority (SGA) for violating gambling liability rules regarding the display of information on its mobile and desktop sites.

In March, SGA officials launched an investigation into the Sunderland-headquartered online bingo operator to ensure that it complies with section 2 of the Swedish Gambling Act regarding the general rules governing operator liability for information.

The company was found not to have included logos for player self-testing and deposit and time limits, and self-exclusion from logout mode on the company's desktop and mobile-friendly sites.

In response to initial requests from the SGA, tombola provided information and screenshots to confirm that the logos were included in the login mode on both sites, and later added them to the logout mode.

However, the SGA continued to investigate and issued a warning after finding that links to relevant sections were not included in the addendum.

They were added earlier this month following further dialogue between the firm and SGA.

However, the regulator still warned the company about violations.

“The current shortcoming concerns only a small part of the informational liability associated with gaming liability,” the SGA wrote.

“These circumstances, in the opinion of the Swedish Gaming Inspectorate, are mitigating and show that there was no intention on the part of tombola to violate the rules or that it was a question of systematic shortcomings in the area of responsibility for the games.

“The Swedish Gaming Inspectorate considers that the infringement should not be regarded as serious, but not as minor or excusable. Against this background, the remark is sufficient intervention,” the SGA added.

The warning is the third issued by the SGA in a week, after similar warnings were issued to licensed Swedish operators Multi Brand Limited and More Tech Group for violating liability for information guidelines.

Multi Brand Limited, which manages the Multilotto brand, and More Tech Group have received warnings for failing to comply with logo display requirements under Swedish law.