Introduction
Ninja Casino, an online gaming site offering casino games has had its domestic gambling licence suspended in Sweden, where parent company Global Gaming is based. This means that Ninja Casino is no longer allowed to trade or accept any gambling requests from anyone in Sweden. The Swedish Gambling Authority, the regulator for all things gambling in Sweden, came to the decision after reviewing the state of policies at the troubled online casino. Ninja Casino actually belongs directly to SafeEnt Ltd, but SafeEnt is a subsidiary of Global Gaming.
Sweden has some of the strictest laws in the western world when it comes to gambling, meaning those in Sweden who indulge in gambling are offered a lot more protection than other nations. When the laws aren’t followed and adequate policies aren’t in place, there’s a risk that the Swedish Gambling Authority can revoke a company’s local gambling licence, leaving online casinos to cater to international gambling enthusiasts only.
Why the Revocation?
The Swedish Gambling Authority conducted a review of SafeEnt’s operations and policies and what they found was unsettling to say the least. Sweden is able to pride itself on protecting its citizens from problem gambling by including social responsibility requirements in the legislation around gambling. This means there’s a need for casinos to protect gamblers from exceeding deposit limits or failing to spot and provide intervention measures for people experiencing problem gambling.
By allowing people to exceed deposit limits, Ninja Casino was facilitating problem gambling. The deposit limits are there to stop people being able to chase losses further and further into debt, but without intervening in excess gambling they’re putting the financial and emotional wellbeing of Swedish citizens at risk.
The good news though, is that there are still online gambling options available for Swedish citizens who are no longer able to gamble with Ninja Casino. The rapidly emerging fan favourite seems to be Snabbare.com, where people can enjoy slots, blackjack and roulette. Snabbare offers multiple variants of every casino game, meaning everyone can find their favourites.
Getting back to why Ninja Casino lost their licence for domestic gambling, the official story is that the lack of social responsibility is only half of the problem. The other half comes from their lack of effort when it comes to tackling money laundering and funding terrorism. To add insult to injury, Ninja Casino also broke rules regarding bonus offers, which can be too tempting to resist for ex gambling addicts.
So what’s Happening Now?
At this point, the Global Gaming are handling the appeals process directly instead of leaving their subsidiary to deal with it, the reason being that this could put a massive dent in the revenue that SafeEnt enjoys. There’s a real need for them to get their domestic gambling licence back, but it may not be possible without a heavy overhaul of their current policies on money laundering, funding terrorism and social responsibility.
Global Gaming have lodged an appeal, stating that a fine would have been sufficient in proving the point but the courts in Sweden have upheld the decision to deny any trading to continue in Sweden while the review is ongoing. After the review there’s a chance they may be able to regain their licence but only once they’ve made all the changes the Swedish Gambling Authority asks them to make. If they do manage to secure their domestic licence once again, it’s unlikely they’ll get a third chance if they take their second for granted.
