The national Swedish gambling regulator has banned Simba, an online casino software provider, from operating in the country.
The regulator, Spelinspektionen, has ruled that the company is operating without a license, meaning it can no longer offer services in the Swedish market. This discovery comes after Spelinspektionen noticed that gaming brands, Betblast, SlotMonster and FoxyGold were preselecting Sweden’s country code when registering from a Swedish IP address.
The regulator also found that Betblast, SlotMonster and Foxy Gold all appeared on affiliate website, with the first two also using advertising platforms on Swedish-language sites. Foxy Gold was also advertized via a content creator on the video streaming site, Twitch. This highlights a clear focus on the Swedish market from the betting brands.
The nail in the coffin from Spelinspektionen is that Simba is registered in Willemstad, Curaçao. This allows the Swedish regulator to take action, as it has the ability to regulate any company without a license that is actively targeting Swedish customers.
“The Swedish Gambling Authority assesses that Simba provides games in Sweden because the company has set the Swedish country code as the default country code when registering on the websites betblast.com, slotmonster.com, and foxygold.com from a Swedish IP address,” the regulator said in its official statement. “In addition, the company markets the websites to Swedish consumers through Swedish-language affiliates.
“Furthermore, the Swedish Gambling Authority notes that marketing of the website slotmonster.com was still taking place, as of June 9, 2025, via advertising spots on a Swedish-language website.”
What’s next from the regulator?
It’s worth noting that players are not subject to punishment for interacting with unlicensed operators, with any potential punishments landing only with the firm or company. Spelinspektionen has not made public any possible sanctions for Simba at the time of writing, instead simply requiring it to cease operations in the Swedish market.
This comes as Sweden is cracking down on unlicensed gambling and gambling-related harm, with the regulator just recently penalizing another company for AML failures.
Featured image: Flickr, licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
