The bet365 Sweden fines stand. On 8 October 2026 the Administrative Court of Appeal rejected the appeals of Hillside (Sports) ENC and Hillside (Gaming) ENC, the two companies that offered gambling through bet365.com in Sweden. Each keeps a warning. They pay SEK 40 million and SEK 4 million, SEK 44 million together. The court agreed that both companies seriously breached the duty of care and the rules on deposit limits. At the centre of the case is a deposit limit option called no limit. Spelinspektionen, the Swedish Gambling Authority, published the outcome on 14 October.
The no limit deposit option at the heart of the case
Swedish gambling law requires every online player to set a maximum deposit per day, per week and per month. From 1 January 2019 to 19 April 2022 bet365 offered Swedish customers a fourth choice, no limit. According to the company, a technical ceiling of SEK 500 million applied in its system when a customer picked it. The customer could not see that ceiling.
The regulator rejected the argument. A limit that the player neither chooses nor sees does not meet the requirement for a limit set by the player. Its 2023 decisions describe customers who moved their limits from fixed amounts to no limit during the reviewed period. On 19 April 2022 bet365 changed its system, and every customer since then has to enter a fixed amount for all three periods.
Duty of care toward customers with high losses
The second finding concerns the duty of care. Spelinspektionen opened its review on 21 December 2021 and examined a sample of customers whose gambling showed signs of being excessive. The companies contacted such customers mainly through automated spending reminders. The regulator found that these messages came too late, after large deposits had already been made. In the Hillside (Sports) ENC decision one customer deposited SEK 486,376 between the first pop up message and the follow up. Stronger measures were taken only by exception. The courts at both levels accepted the finding of serious breaches of the duty of care.
How the penalty went from SEK 79 million to SEK 44 million
| Date | Body | Hillside (Sports) ENC | Hillside (Gaming) ENC |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24 April 2023 | Spelinspektionen decision | warning and SEK 65 million | warning and SEK 14 million |
| 13 June 2024 | Administrative Court | penalty lowered to SEK 40 million | penalty lowered to SEK 4 million |
| 8 October 2026 | Administrative Court of Appeal | appeal rejected | appeal rejected |
The cut came in 2024, before the appeal. In 2023 the Supreme Administrative Court gave a guiding ruling on how the size of a penalty must be calculated, in the case HFD 2023 ref. 25. After that ruling Spelinspektionen itself asked the Administrative Court to lower the amounts to SEK 52 million and SEK 5 million. The court went further, to SEK 40 million and SEK 4 million. The appeal court has now confirmed those amounts as proportionate.
Who holds the bet365 licence in Sweden now
bet365.com is licensed in Sweden through a different company today. The register read on 18 October 2026 lists Hillside (Europe) ENC with bet365.com, status Aktiv. It holds licences for commercial online gambling and betting, valid from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2028. The two fined companies held licences that ran until 31 December 2023 and no longer appear in the register.
How to check a Swedish licence in a minute
- Type bet365 or any other brand into the search box on our homepage.
- Open the Spelinspektionen link on the result to see the licence holder, the licence types and the validity dates at the source.
- Confirm that the web address you use matches the one the register lists.
- Read the Sweden license check page for the Swedish rules, the Spelpaus self exclusion register and the red flags.