Swedish appeals court upholds SEK 44m in penalties against Bet365 operator Hillside over player protection

The Swedish Administrative Court of Appeal has dismissed appeals from Hillside, the company behind Bet365, and confirmed earlier rulings that two of its subsidiaries broke Swedish player protection rules. The decision leaves in place warnings and financial penalties of SEK 4 million ($401,010) for Hillside (Gaming) and SEK 40 million for Hillside (Sports).

The courts found that both businesses fell short of their duty of care between 2019 and 2022. Under Chapter 14, Section 1 of the Swedish Gaming Act, licence holders must continuously monitor how customers play and step in when needed to prevent harm. The judges agreed with the regulator, Spelinspektionen, that Hillside did not act quickly or firmly enough in several individual cases where players showed signs of excessive or problematic gambling. The company leaned heavily on automated contact such as pop-ups, emails and spending reminders, and was slow to move to manual reviews. In some cases it took almost a month to apply stronger restrictions while risky behaviour continued.

A separate finding concerned deposit limits. From 1 January 2019 to 18 April 2022, Hillside's platform let customers choose a "no limit" setting, which sidestepped the legal requirement that players actively set a maximum deposit per day, week and month. A technical ceiling of SEK 500 million existed, but it was neither communicated nor enforced as an active limit, so the courts held that the option was incompatible with Swedish law.

The Administrative Court in Linköping and the appeals court in Jönköping both judged the mix of warnings and fines proportionate. The gaming company's penalty was reduced from the regulator's initial proposal before being confirmed at SEK 4 million, while the sports betting fine fell from SEK 65 million to SEK 40 million. The regulator's analysis focused on the 10 players with the highest losses between 17 October and 17 December 2021, with five profiles studied in more detail.

Hillside argued that its early risk detection system worked well overall and that the sample was a negligible share of its customer base. It also said official guidance on the timing of interventions was imprecise and that its "no limit" option was effectively capped and consistent with early guidance. The courts found these arguments insufficient. Spelinspektionen described the failure to enforce mandatory deposit limits as a long-standing systemic shortcoming.

The ruling follows action in the Netherlands, where the Kansspelautoriteit imposed a binding order on Hillside earlier this year. It said the operator did not adequately respond to signs that players might no longer afford their gambling between 6 December 2024 and 6 June 2025.