Online betting operator Betsson has felt it necessary to publicly refute allegations that there was anything untoward about its $85m acquisition of Georgian betting operator Europe-Bet this July.
The allegations, which Swedish media claim originated via a report prepared for a US hedge fund, accuse the Europe-Bet sellers of using a front person to disguise connections to a man who controlled one-quarter of Europe-Bet’s shares.
The man allegedly behind this front, Khvicha Makatsaria, has been accused of corruption and money laundering in connecction with some Georgian politicians.
On Friday, Betsson released a public statement saying it believes the report was created to benefit a short-seller looking to drive down the company’s stock price for personal financial gain. Betsson said the report contained “false information and fictitious facts” and the company was examining the possibility of pursuing legal action against the report’s anonymous author and the fund for which the report was written.
Betsson CEO Pontus Lindwall told Di.se that the report “largely contains groundless accusations and inaccuracies” and he was “very comfortable” saying there was nothing improper about the Europe-Bet deal.
YOUNG SWEDES HAVE NO TIME FOR SVENSKA SPEL
A new Swedish gambling survey says just over 40% of adults engage in some form of real-money gambling each month. The Mediavision survey found that nearly half of Swedes aged 36-74 years gambled for money every month, while just one-third of those aged 18-35 years could say the same. Older bettors also tended to spend more than their youthful counterparts.
There were sharp but predictable distinctions in the chosen means of wagering, with the greatest disparity seen in horseracing, which was more than four times more prevalent among older bettors. Older bettors also preferred betting at shops run by state-owned operator Svenska Spel, while younger bettors preferred seeking out international online operators like Bet365 and Unibet.
SVENSKA SPEL LICENSE EXTENDED
Speaking of Svenska Spel, the government just renewed its gaming license through the end of 2018. The three-year extension is longer than the traditional two-year renewal, but the government said the extra year was justified by the timeline of its plans to liberalize Sweden’s gambling market.
After much external pressure from the European Commission and private operators, Sweden is finally getting around to ending Svenska Spel’s long-held online betting monopoly. The Ministry of Finance has vowed to produce new gambling legislation by March 2017, after which stakeholders will weigh in, with the final draft submitted to parliament by the end of that year.
