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The Finnish National Police Board’s (NPB) enforcement action against Betsson Group has been put on hold by an interim decision made by the Supreme Court while the company’s appeal is ongoing.
Juhani Ali-Kurikka, senior advisor at the NPB, which is in charge of the national supervision of lotteries and gambling, told Vixio that the board is now “waiting for the Supreme Administrative Court's decision on BML Group Limited's appeal and will consider the possible further actions based on the court's decision”.
Just a few weeks ago, the NPB said it was focusing its resources on quickly addressing Betsson’s decision to transfer brands that were on the country's payment blocklist to another operator.
However, all the brands have now been removed from the blocklist.
A spokesperson for Bettsson said the company “welcomes the interim decision of the Supreme Court that the enforcement of the decisions of the Helsinki Administrative Court and the National Police Board is not justified at this stage of the proceedings, and that enforcement should therefore be prohibited”.
Betsson also welcomes the removal of BML Group from the country’s payment blocking blacklist, which was updated on April 2. This means the blacklist, which has been established for more than a year, is empty.
On February 19, Betsson, or BML Group, lost its appeal to the Helsinki Administrative Court, which gave the police board the right to put it on the blocking list.
BML Group was given the right to appeal the administrative court's ruling for 30 days from that ruling.
BML Group did appeal the ruling by the Administrative Court of Finland, as well as the blacklisting by the NPB, to the Supreme Court in Finland.
Legal disputes between BML Group and the NPB have been ongoing for more than a year now and are unlikely to end anytime soon, as the appeal process in the Supreme Administrative Court may take a few years.
In April 2023, the NPB moved to bar Betsson from marketing gambling in Finland, under penalty of a €2.4m fine.
