Online gambling operators Betsson and Bethard have been warned and fined by Sweden’s gambling regulator for bonus offer and underage betting violations.

On Wednesday, Sweden’s Spelinspektionen regulatory agency imposed an SEK20m (US$2.16m) penalty on the Stockholm-listed Betsson for two separate violations: selling vouchers good for online play through unauthorized retailers and offering customers a branded Mastercard that violated the market’s bonus offer rules.

In March 2019, Betsson Nordic Ltd began selling online gambling vouchers through 7-11 stores and the Pressbyrån convenience store chain. Neither retailer was authorized by Spelinspektionen to act as a ‘gaming agent’ and the regulator launched an investigation last November.

Betsson countered that the vouchers were part of its deal with gift/prepaid card supplier Convenience Card and thus there was no direct deal between Betsson and either retailer, neither of which Betsson believes were acting as ‘gaming agents’ under Swedish rules. Nevertheless, Betsson subsequently ended its relationship with Convenience Card and ceased such voucher sales.