Skins gambling is largely illegal across regulated markets but has been gaining traction nonetheless, appealing to younger bettors
The Swedish Gaming Authority (Spelinspektionen) announced that it has banned an additional four online gambling operators. According to the regulator’s announcement, the four companies in question provided games to consumers in Sweden despite lacking the necessary licenses.
In its official statement, the Spelinspektionen confirmed that the four iGaming companies it has taken action against include the following:
- Gamevio
- Bigskin Trading
- Santeda International
- Samiland
The Swedish authority explained that Gamevio and Bigskin Trading offered skins gambling. For context, skins gambling is a fairly new form of internet gambling where players would stake video game items known as “skins” for a shot at prizes or better skins.
Skins are in-game cosmetics that change the appearance of weapons and character models, allowing players to add an intimate level of personalization to their gameplay. Because of that, certain rare skins could even cost thousands of dollars.
Skins gambling is largely illegal across regulated markets but has been gaining traction nonetheless. The appeal of such products to younger players remains a cause of concern among regulators and industry analysts.
Gamevio, according to the regulator, operates csgofast.com, which targets the Swedish market. In addition, the Cyprus-based company operates csgofastx.com, csgofast4.com, csgofast123.com, xcsgofast.com, csgofast.tl, csgofast.gg and cs2gofast.com.
Bigskin Trading, on the other hand, operates bountystars.com, a site that allows, among other things, crypto deposits. Concerningly, the operator had Swedish information, conditions for participation in Swedish, a Swedish FAQ and affiliates in Sweden.
As for Santeda, the Spelinspektionen found out that its mystake.com website offered games to Swedish customers despite lacking a license. In addition, the website has Swedish language options and also actively marketed in Swedish.
Additionally, it was possible for players in Sweden to register an account and play with the operator. The authority said that it has reached out to the operator but has not yet received a response.
Likewise, samiland.co contained information in Swedish and allowed Swedish consumers to register and play. However, the Spelinspektionen was unable to confirm who Samiland’s owner was as this information was not listed on the website. As of the time of this writing, the Spelinspektionen is yet to receive a response from the operator.
In other news, the Spelinspektionen continues its legal fight with Zimpler.
