Spelinspektionen bans Duel.com operator Immortal Snail, which resists Swedish restrictions

The Swedish Gambling Authority, Spelinspektionen, has imposed an immediate ban on Immortal Snail LLC, the operating company of the offshore betting brand Duel.com. The regulator said it acted in the interests of consumer protection.

According to the Blask Index, Duel.com is present in a number of markets besides Sweden, including the US, Canada, India, Finland, Germany, Poland, Norway and Spain. It holds no licence in any of them. The platform runs as a .com site under a licence from the Anjouan Gaming Authority.

The regulator's filing records the company's response to the order. Immortal Snail argued that Swedish is an international language and that Sweden should be blocked by IP address. It also said it cannot control whether payments are made in Swedish kronor, and that it should not have to stop offering Swedish as a website language.

Spelinspektionen's investigation found that the IP blocking against Sweden had not actually been put in place. The Swedish currency and language still appeared when logging in from a Swedish IP address, and the authority noted continued Swedish-language marketing of the site.

The source article questions whether the ban can be enforced, noting that many unlicensed operators ignore penalties or regulator notices. It also points out that IP blocking alone may be bypassed with a VPN, and that no geofencing measures were mentioned. The operator is described as being based in Saint Kitts and Nevis.

The case also feeds into the wider debate over the role of large technology platforms in curbing illegal gambling adverts. The article cites criticism of the operator's social media marketing, which it says has included content featuring adult creators and actors in Nazi-era military uniforms. It notes that regulators such as the UK Gambling Commission have called on Big Tech to act, that Dutch trade body VNLOK has taken Meta to court, and that Aland Islands operator Paf recently agreed an experimental arrangement with Meta aimed at restricting illegal adverts.