EUROPE IN FOCUS

Turkish crime ring reveals ties to illegal gambling, Svenska appeals harm minimization fine, Veikkaus appoints new general counsel and more.

EUROPE IN FOCUS

Police Seize $127 Million in Turkey Cybercrime Raids

Turkish authorities have seized assets worth an estimated $127 million and made roughly 150 arrests during raids across the country in a cybercrime probe connected to charges that included illegal betting.

The raids were carried out over the past week. Some 423 suspects were detained as part of the operation, which spread across 52 provinces in Turkey, according to the Turkish Minister of Interior Ali Yerlikaya.

According to police, the fraudsters collected bank accounts to be used in illegal betting and gambling. Those involved in the schemes provided infrastructure for illegal betting websites, acting as an intermediary in gambling and money transfer.

Some 145 people were formally arrested as part of the investigation, with 128 suspects placed under judicial supervision.

 

Svenska Spel Successfully Appeals Swedish Penalty

Svenska Spel Sport & Casino has successfully appealed against an SEK100 million ($10.5 million) penalty fee and warning from the Swedish regulator Spelinspektionen.

The Administrative Court in Linköping ruled in favor of Svenska Spel during a hearing June 2. The case related to charges brought against the operator’s digital arm in March last year.

Svenska Spel Sport & Casino is the digital arm of the state-owned Swedish gambling operator.

The regulator said Svenska Spel had failed to take sufficient measures to protect players against excessive gambling.

 

Veikkaus Appoints Former PayPal VP to Top Legal Role

Veikkaus has announced the appointment of former PayPal vice president Jyri Lassi as its new general counsel and management team member.

Lassi replaces Hanna Kyrki, who will depart the business in July to join Summa Defence.

He will join Veikkaus having left electric car charging service company Virta Global, where he worked as its chief legal officer for over three years.

Commenting on his new role, Lassi acknowledged the major changes facing Veikkaus in the near future. The operator will soon relinquish its role as the iGaming monopoly in Finland, with the country set to open up a wider, regulated market.

 

LiveScore Bet Hits Out at Advertising Standards Agency Over Breaches

LiveScore Bet has stated that it is “disappointed” that the U.K.’s Advertising Standards Agency’s has ruled two of its adverts breached regulations.

The advertisements were reported to have appeared in an under-18 version of the LiveScore mobile app, which features scores and fixtures across various sports, with a primary focus on soccer.

LiveScore has said that upon investigating the first advert, it carried out testing on the under-18 LiveScore Android app. However, it was unable to replicate instances of gambling content being shown. It was also unable to identify any technical issues that would have meant content was displayed.

With the second advert, LiveScore Bet said a technical problem in a historic version of the app resulted in gambling content being displayed to users who had selected “under-18.”

Despite these arguments, the ASA elected to uphold the complaint.

**GGBNews.com is part of the Clarion Events Group of companies (Clarion). We take your privacy seriously. By registering for this newsletter we wish to use your information on the basis of our legitimate interests to keep in contact with you about other relevant events, products and services which may be of interest to you. We will only ever use the information we collect or receive about you in accordance with our Privacy Policy. You may manage your preferences or unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails.