Sweden’s Social Democratic Party (SAP), Social Democratic Youth League (SSU) and Social Democratic Women’s Federation (S-women) have been hit with a warning and a sanction fee of over £230,000 for their handling of charity lottery operations.
The Swedish gambling regulator, Spelinspektionen, in handing out the £231,990 penalty, said the three entities failed to ensure the lottery activity carried out by a contractor was conducted “under controlled and secure conditions.”
The regulator’s sanction fee is the result of a follow-up investigation after the Swedish Consumer Agency found that the licence holders in question employed aggressive commercial practices in relation to telephone sales of lottery tickets.
Spelinspektionen requested its own statements from the licence holders, who said that their contractor – Kombispel – was tasked with developing, managing and selling the lotteries covered by their licences, including Kombilotteriet. They said Kombispel had engaged external telemarketing companies to handle the sales and marketing of lottery tickets for the lottery.
In its conclusion, Spelinspektionen said: “According to communications from the Consumer Agency regarding aggressive marketing in the telephone sales of lottery tickets, it appears that Kombispel's sales agents used aggressive pressure tactics, sent invoices without prior orders, and made repeated and unwanted contact despite consumers requesting not to be contacted.”
In determining the penalty amount, the regulator noted the organisations co-operated with the investigation.
“However, the cooperation cannot be regarded as more active than what can usually be expected from an association that has chosen to operate licensed activities under supervision. It is not possible to establish how long the violations have lasted,” it said.
