On Thursday, the Swedish Administrative Court of Appeal dismissed appeals by Bet365 parent Hillside, upholding earlier rulings that the company had breached player protection obligations under the country’s gambling legislation.
Two subsidiaries of the Hillside Group – Hillside (Gaming) and Hillside (Sports) – were found to have failed in their duty of care toward players between 2019 and 2022. This violated mandatory deposit limit rules.
The court reaffirmed warnings and imposed financial penalties of SEK4 million ($401,010) on the gaming arm and SEK40 million on the sports betting business.
Breaches of duty of care
The courts sided with Sweden’s gambling regulator in denying the operator’s appeal. It agreed that Hillside had failed to take sufficiently prompt and effective action in multiple individual cases where customers exhibited signs of excessive or problematic gambling.
The Swedish Gaming Act (Chapter 14, Section 1) mandates that licence holders must monitor player activity continuously and intervene as necessary to prevent harm.
Hillside was found to have relied excessively on automated communications (pop-ups, emails and spend reminders) and was slow to escalate to manual reviews. There were also delays in imposing access restrictions, despite continued risky player behaviour.
Violation of deposit limit rules
Between 1 January 2019 and 18 April 2022, Hillside’s platform permitted customers to opt for a “no limit” deposit setting. This effectively bypassed the statutory requirement that players must actively select an upper deposit limit per day, week and month.
Although a technical ceiling of SEK500 million existed, this was not communicated or enforced as an active limit, rendering the option incompatible with Swedish law.
Penalties and evidence
Both the Administrative Court in Linköping and the Administrative Court of Appeal in Jönköping deemed the combination of warnings and financial penalties proportionate.
The original penalty for the gaming company was reduced from Spelinspektionen’s initial proposal but ultimately confirmed at SEK4 million. In relation to the sports betting operations, the initial SEK65 million fine was lowered, but a substantial penalty of SEK40 million was instead required.
Analysis by Spelinspektionen targeted the 10 players with the highest losses over a two-month period (17 October to 17 December 2021), with five profiles examined in greater detail. These customers exhibited frequent deposits and losses, triggering Hillside’s internal early risk detection system, yet they experienced delayed and inconsistent intervention.
Investigations revealed Hillside’s over-reliance on automated messages without timely escalation to more stringent manual controls. In some instances it took almost a month for the operator to apply stronger restrictions despite ongoing risky behaviour.
Hillside’s position
Hillside contended that its early risk detection system was generally effective and highlighted the limited scope of the sample analysed, representing an insignificant fraction of its clientele.
The operator also argued that Swedish regulatory guidance lacked precision on intervention timing and that their “no limit” option was functionally capped and aligned with early guidance. However, the courts rejected these arguments as insufficient to negate breaches.
Spelinspektionen emphasised that customers analysed had experienced ongoing losses despite the operator’s primarily informational interventions. The regulator characterised the failure to enforce mandatory deposit limits as a long-standing systemic deficiency incompatible with the statutory framework.
Another binding order
This is not the first time Hillside’s player protection enforcement has come into question. At the start of this year, the Dutch gambling regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) imposed a binding order on Hillside after it failed to comply with certain duty of care requirements.
It said Hillside “did not adequately” respond to signals players may no longer be able to afford their gambling.
The period in question ran from 6 December 2024 to 6 June 2025, with KSA saying Hillside failed to apply appropriate interventions.
Kathryn Evans
Kathryn covers bitesize breaking news with a primary focus on EMEA and US legislation. A proud North Walian, fluent Welsh speaker and lifelong Wrexham FC fan – long before Hollywood came calling.