Aspire Global loses appeal over Swedish bonus marketing breaches

The Swedish Consumer Ombudsman (KO) has won its lawsuit against Aspire Global over the advertising of bonuses within its Karamba online slots brand.

Judges at the Swedish Patents and Markets Court sided with KO, asserting Aspire Global had not observed moderation within its marketing practices, and thus had violated the Swedish Gambling Act, paving the way for KO to impose a conditional injunction against the firm.

Five separate violations were identified relating to the “clear and unambiguous” marketing of bonuses and free spins offers to customers.

These included terms and conditions violations, a lack of age warnings on bonus ads, no signposting to gambling-related harm treatment services and messaging which encouraged players to continue gambling despite trying to cancel their accounts.

For each identified violation, the court imposed a contingent fine of SEK3m, with Aspire Global to pay a total of SEK15m (£1.3m) should any further breaches of these standards occur.

In its case, KO highlighted one specific advert, which promised a bonus of SEK2,000, but was later found to require players to wager SEK70,000 before any bonus could be paid.

KO said this style of bonus incited players to gamble more, in violation of the requirement not to encourage further gambling. In addition, KO claimed terms and conditions governing this offer were written in an “unclear way” on the Aspire Global site and were totally absent from consumer-facing marketing.

“It is good that the court has clearly stated that it is not allowed to mislead individuals into believing they will receive big bonuses, when in fact they have to gamble very large amounts over a short time in order to qualify,” KO lawyer Pär Magnusson said.

The lawsuit began in October 2019, with Aspire Global challenging the ambiguity of Swedish gambling law and claiming KO was looking to establish a precedent by punishing the operator.

Speaking to EGR, Aspire Global confirmed its subsequent compliance practices have been fully compliant with existing KO guidance.

Elsewhere, Aspire Global reported a 20.7% year-on-year rise in Q3 2020 revenue to €40.1m (£36.2m) thanks to strong B2B performance.

Company EBITDA increased by 25.7% over the quarter to €6.6m, corresponding to a margin of 16.4%, with first-time depositor numbers up by more than 10%.

In September, the company significantly expanded its B2B arm with the €20m (£18.2m) all-cash acquisition of sportsbook technology provider BtoBet.

“The acquisition of the leading B2B sportsbook provider BtoBet is a significant strategic milestone for Aspire Global,” Aspire Global CEO Tsachi Maimon said.

“Through the acquisition we can include BtoBet’s cutting-edge Neuron 3 sports platform in our offering. This is essential since we now cover all the main elements of the B2B igaming value chain with our own products.

“Aspire Global is now in full control of the IP in the whole value chain which means that we drive the complete roadmap and steer the rollout of new features also in the sportsbook offering,” Maimon added.