Licence previously revoked
The Swedish Gambling Authority, also known as the Spelinspektionen, has rejected Viral Interactive’s bid to revive Ninja Casino by attempting to add the brand to their current license.
Ninja Casino and its associates have a history of violations involving the SGA, including by parent company SafeEnt, which had its Swedish licence revoked in 2019.
Numerous violations
Ninja Casino was previously owned by Global Gaming 555, a marketing partner of Viral Interactive. The company operated in Sweden through its SafeEnt subsidiary. Since Ninja Casino was suspensed, the domain has been transferred to Viral Interactive.
Ninja Casino was previously owned by Global Gaming 555, a marketing partner of Viral Interactive
However, when SafeEnt first had its licence revoked last year, Elec Games was granted the Ninja Casino trademark. But the company itself had previously fallen foul of the Swedish Consumer Agency (Konsumentverket), due to marketing violations involving Ninja Casino and full screen pop-up advertisements.
Hope for new partnership
As Viral Interactive has an active online commercial license with the SGA, it was hoping that Ninja Casino could be revived under these terms. However, the authority has said that it would be “highly inappropriate” due to their previous history of violations, and that the company still had links with SafeEnt.
In its decision the SGA said that the legal connections “are not sufficient to create a necessary separation between Viral Interactive Limited and two players who have individually committed serious breaches of the regulations.”
Viral Interactive may still appeal the decision although no statement has yet been given to that effect.
Global gaming unhappy
The failure of Ninja Casino to be adopted onto Viral Interactive’s licence has been disappointing for its parent group, Global Gaming 555. CEO Tobias Fagerlund spoke out to accuse the SGA of making “questionable decisions.”
In a statement, he said: “It is obvious to me there is a lot of prestige in the Swedish Gambling Authority’s decision and that the Swedish Gambling Authority continues to make questionable decisions which in our opinion lack clear support in the legislation.”
The company, operating under SafeEnt had its Swedish licence revoked in June 2019 for “consistently serious and systematic shortcomings” when it came to anti-money laundering policies. The SGA review also highlighted shortcomings over violations in bonuses and letting customers go over self-imposed limits.
If the review is found to be favourable and the licence restored, it is not yet known if Ninja Casino will then become active under SafeEnt, or appeal to activate under Viral Interactive’s licence.