(PRESS RELEASE) -- The Swedish Gambling Authority (Spelinspektionen) prohibits Altacore N.V. from providing gambling in Sweden without the necessary license.
This decision is effective immediately.
CaseThe Swedish Gambling Authority initiated a supervision case against Altacore N.V. after it was suspected that the websites betify.com (Betify), wintopia.com (Wintopia), flappycasino.com (Flappy), yonibet.com (Yonibet), luckyhour.com (Luckyhour), cosmicslot.com (Cosmicslot), winlegends.com (Winlegends), casinozer.com (Casinozer), rollino.co (Rollino), gamblezen.com (Gamblezen), spinsbro.com (Spinsbro) and icebet.casino (Icebet) were providing gambling services targeting the Swedish market without the required license.
The Swedish Gambling Authority conducted a covert test purchase during the supervision, although the purchase was not completed.
During the initial review of the websites, it was found that the sites had Sweden as a selectable country for registration and were pre-selected when accessed from a Swedish IP address. It was also noted that the company, or its so-called "affiliates," had marketing in Swedish. Furthermore, marketing was observed via Swedish-speaking content creators on the video streaming platform Twitch, and the websites' terms of use referenced being a Swedish customer.
The circumstances mentioned above were communicated to the company on 17 July 2025. Altacore N.V. was also given the opportunity to comment on these circumstances, but no statement was received by the Swedish Gambling Authority. The Swedish Gambling Authority performed a follow-up check, which showed that Altacore N.V. had geo-blocked Swedish IP addresses from accessing the websites initially communicated to the Swedish Gambling Authority. After further review of Altacore N.V.'s operations, it became apparent that there were other domains under the same brands as before, so-called "mirror sites." On several of these websites, Altacore N.V. was still listed as the owner. The mirror sites continued to be marketed via Swedish-speaking content creators on the video streaming platform Twitch and through Swedish-speaking affiliates. Sweden was also selectable as a country during registration, and the terms of use referred to Swedish customers.
The Swedish Gambling Authority once again, on August 22, 2025, communicated the new circumstances that had emerged, including that Altacore N.V. appeared to be continuing its operations under the same brands via mirror sites. Altacore N.V. was given the opportunity to comment on this, but no statement was received by the Swedish Gambling Authority. After further communication, Altacore N.V. again geo-blocked access from Sweden, but this time only for some of the websites that had been communicated. However, the Swedish Gambling Authority has noticed new mirror sites appearing under the same brands as the geo-blocked websites. Swedish-language marketing for Altacore N.V.'s brands now leads to the new domains, which no longer contain any information about the owning company.
During the supervision, it was not found that Swedish consumers are prevented from registering and creating an account on the websites in question.
The supervision revealed that the websites reviewed, which contain information about ownership, are owned and operated by Altacore N.V., with registration number 151002 at the address Dr. H. Fergusonsweg 1, Gaito, Curaçao. Altacore N.V. operates under license number OGL/2023/109/0075, issued in Curaçao.
Applicable ProvisionsThe Gambling Act (2018:1138) shall apply to gambling provided in Sweden, unless otherwise specified in sections 3, 4, or 5. Online gambling not directed at the Swedish market is not considered to be provided in Sweden (Chapter 1, Section 2 of the Gambling Act).
A license is required to provide gambling under this Act, unless otherwise specified by law or other statutes (Chapter 3, Section 3 of the Gambling Act).
The Swedish Gambling Authority may, if necessary for supervision regarding the provisions in Chapter 3, Section 3, first paragraph, and Section 7 of the Gambling Act, purchase online gambling services under a covert identity (test purchase) (Chapter 18, Section 9a of the Gambling Act).
The Swedish Gambling Authority may issue the injunctions and prohibitions necessary to ensure compliance with the Gambling Act (Chapter 18, Section 23 of the Gambling Act).
The Swedish Gambling Authority may decide that a decision on an injunction under the Act shall be effective immediately (Chapter 18, Section 25 of the Gambling Act).
The Swedish Gambling Authority's AssessmentThe Gambling Act applies to gambling provided in Sweden, with specific exceptions. It is a prohibitory law based on the principle that all who operate on the Swedish gambling market must have a license. It is therefore not permitted to provide gambling without a license when one is required.
The purpose of the regulation is to channel gambling to offerings from responsible, reliable, and controllable operators. The regulation is based on the idea that all who operate on the Swedish gambling market must have a Swedish gambling license and that other operators without a license should be excluded.
The legislative history of the Gambling Act shows that the starting point for the application of the law to online gambling should be that the Gambling Act applies to gambling provided in Sweden regardless of whether it is provided from another country (see Government Bill 2017/18:220 p. 87). To prevent all online gambling from falling within the scope of the law, gambling that is not directed at the Swedish market is excluded.
The deciding factor for whether the Gambling Act is applicable to online gambling is whether the gambling can be considered directed at the Swedish market or not. According to the legislative history of the provision, this must be determined by an overall assessment, where relevant circumstances may include the website containing Swedish text or offering deposits and winnings in Swedish currency (Government Bill 2017/18:220 p. 290).
If Swedish consumers are not allowed to register and create an account on a website that offers gambling, the Swedish Gambling Authority considers that the gambling cannot be considered provided in Sweden. The Gambling Act is therefore not applicable in that situation.
To achieve a functioning licensed market, it is essential that operators who do not have the necessary Swedish gambling license do not market themselves to the Swedish market (Government Bill 2017/18:220 p. 169).
An overall assessment of the circumstances must be made in each individual case. If an online game is deemed to be directed at the Swedish market after this assessment, the company providing the game must have the necessary license according to Chapter 3, Section 3 of the Gambling Act.
The Swedish Gambling Authority notes that the brands Winlegends, Spinsbro, and Icebet are currently geo-blocked and have not been replaced in the same way that Wintopia, Flappy, Betify, Yonibet, Luckyhour, Cosmicslot, Casinozer, Rollino, and Gamblezen have been replaced by mirror sites. The assessment below therefore applies to the brands that continue to target Swedish consumers.
Although the websites' domain names have been changed multiple times during the case, and some domains lack information about ownership, the Swedish Gambling Authority assesses that the websites providing gambling under all the brands Wintopia, Flappy, Betify, Yonibet, Luckyhour, Cosmicslot, Casinozer, Rollino, and Gamblezen are owned and operated by Altacore N.V.
The Swedish Gambling Authority makes this assessment because the mirror sites are designed in the same way as the websites first noted during the investigation, which contained information that Altacore N.V. was the owner. Furthermore, the Swedish Gambling Authority found during the investigation that mirror sites, where ownership information was not available, were geo-blocked from access from Sweden after the Swedish Gambling Authority's communication with the company. It is also noted that the company's affiliates continue to use the same marketing banners that previously led consumers to Altacore N.V.'s websites. These banners now, however, redirect to mirror sites that lack information about the owner. Since these mirror sites also fall under Altacore N.V.'s brands, there is currently nothing to suggest that the operations are run by any company other than Altacore N.V.
The Swedish Gambling Authority assesses that Altacore N.V. is providing gambling in Sweden, as there is continued Swedish-language marketing via Swedish-speaking affiliates and content creators on Twitch for websites run by Altacore N.V.'s brands. Furthermore, Sweden is the pre-selected country when visiting from a Swedish IP address on several of the company's websites, and the websites refer to Swedish customers in their terms and conditions.
Altacore N.V. lacks a license to provide gambling in Sweden. The Swedish Gambling Authority therefore decides to prohibit Altacore N.V. from providing gambling in Sweden.
The Swedish Gambling Authority considers, with regard to consumer protection and to guarantee gambling safety, that it is important that the decision is complied with immediately. The decision will therefore be effective immediately.
This decision was made by Head of Unit Robert Larsson after a presentation by Officer Ludvig Ekholm.