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BOS Claims Swedish Banking Institutions Have Suspended Services Provided to Licensed Gambling Operators
Gustaf Hoffstedt, secretary-general of the Swedish trade association Branscheforenigen för Onlinespel (BOS), has claimed that all of the country’s major banking institutions have suspended services they provide to licensed gambling operators.
BOS said that “all major Nordic banks” – including SEB, Swedbank, Nordea, Handelsbanken, DNB Nor and Danske Bank – stopped providing services to Swedish-licensed gambling operators at some point this year.
Claiming this is in violation of Swedish law, Hoffstedt has filed a complaint to the country’s Financial Supervisory Authority (Finansinspektionen).
Most of these banks, Hoffstedt said, cited internal risk assessments or Sweden’s Anti-Money Laundering Act (PTL) as the reasons for account closures. The BOS secretary-general added that “in some cases the banks have not stated any reason at all”.
“As far as I am aware, no concrete justification for the dismissals and banks’ assessment has been provided in any case,” Hoffstedt said.
Hoffstedt added that gambling operators cannot function without banking services.
“Online gambling companies are, as stated above, dependent on basic financial infrastructure in the form of banking and payment services to conduct their business,” he explained. “This requires [them] to be able to store customers’ funds as well as receive deposits and make payments to customers.”
He added that the suspension of services meant that operators could no longer use Bank-ID, used to verify players’ identities. This meant they had lost access to a tool that was vital for fighting fraud and money laundering, Hoffstedt.
“Without access to the Bank-ID system, online gambling companies need to use alternative solutions to identify their customers. These solutions risk being neither as effective for companies nor as safe for users,” he explained.
Swedish Banks also provide the Swish payment service, which Hoffstedt said was also “very important” for operators.
Hoffstedt said that the banks’ decisions had worsened operating conditions for the country’s igaming licensees, as well as counteracting the goals of the Gambling Act.
He went as far as arguing that the actions were illegal.
Hoffstedt said banks have a contractual obligation to continue to provide banking services to these customers, unless there is a clear reason to break this agreement. Only in incidents where continuing to provide banking services would violate the PTL, or if the banking customer had committed misconduct, could agreements be broken, he claimed.
While Hoffstedt noted that banks may terminate agreements if they suspect a customer has connections to money laundering, he pointed out the PTL made clear that these assessments are at the customer level. They can, therefore, not be applied on a sweeping basis to a legal industry.
“Given that a large proportion of BOS members also received notice or notice of termination from the banks – all with general and overarching references to the risk of money laundering in the business – it seems obvious that the basis for the dismissals is a general business policy decision rather than a valid application of PTL,” he said.
“Under these circumstances, there is no possibility for the banks to deviate from their contractual obligation.”
BOS requested a dialogue with the Financial Supervisory Authority and said the regulator “should initiate a supervisory investigation of the banks’ handling and possibly intervene against the banks”.
SEB – one of the banks mentioned by BOS – however, argued it was not systematically ending relationships with gambling operators but rather examined the risk for every client on an individual basis.
“We always make an individual assessment of individual client relationships,“ SEB said. “When it comes to gambling companies, we generally have a cautious approach based on the raised risk level, not least connected to risks relating to money laundering and financial crime.”
Danske Bank, meanwhile, denied it had a policy specifically preventing gambling businesses from operating, but did say these businesses undergo a stricter screening process.
“Danske Bank does not exclude banking services for gambling operations as such,” Danske Bank said. “However, our assessment is that the gambling industry in general is associated with high risk and due to that we have tailored screening principles to ensure that the companies operate responsibly.
“In a case where a specific gambling client does not meet the requirements of our KYC-process or ESG-assessment, the ultimate consequence could be that we limit our offerings or refrain from enter into a business relationship.”
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ICONIC21 has launched Private Edition Blackjack, a live table game built around a single-player format. The company said the table is reserved entirely for one player and supports up to seven hands played simultaneously.
Private Edition Blackjack uses a seven-seat table model with a high minimum bet requirement, positioning it at VIP and high-value segments. ICONIC21 said players can request a dealer change, request a shoe change, or choose to keep their current dealer.
The product also adds ICONIC21’s integrated LED Studio technology. According to the company, a built-in LED screen enables operators to change background visuals to support campaigns, partnerships, events, or player segmentation.
Edvardas Sadovskis, Chief Product Officer at ICONIC21, said: “Private Edition Blackjack brings a much stronger sense of ownership to the live blackjack experience. Players are not simply joining a seat – they take full control of the table, playing up to seven hands and shaping the session through dealer and shoe preferences.
For VIP and high-value players, engagement is everything. This format ensures the dealer’s full attention is dedicated to a single player, creating a more personal and immersive experience. With extended decision time and no need to accommodate others at the table, players can control the pace of the game and play entirely on their own terms.”
The post ICONIC21 launches Private Edition Blackjack with a single-player 7-seat live table appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
Aggregator expands its supplier line-up for operators in emerging markets, with a focus on Africa and Latin America.
QTech Games has signed a supplier partnership with B2B iGaming content developer ReelPlay, giving QTech’s platform customers access to ReelPlay’s slots catalogue via distribution partner platform ARC iGaming.
The agreement adds ReelPlay titles including the 10K WAYS
series and Megaways games such as Hypernova Megaways, 10,000 Wonders 10K WAYS and Atlantis Megaways to QTech’s aggregation offering.
QTech Games said the collaboration is aimed at extending ReelPlay’s reach in emerging markets, with particular emphasis on Africa and Latin America.
QTech Games CEO, Philip Doftvik, said: “We’re dedicated to constantly launching more and more first-class content and product innovation that drives revenue for our partners. So, this deal with ReelPlay extends our portfolio. We look forward to sharing Reelplay’s games with both leading and challenger operator brands in emerging markets worldwide.”
Niki Longmuir, CCO at ReelPlay, added: “At ReelPlay, we pride ourselves on working with the sector’s biggest and most commercially recognised partners, and QTech Games fits the bill perfectly, as we continue to broaden our borders, expanding our brand. Together, we will strive to prioritise the player experience, ensuring that every game we create is designed with the player in mind first. QTech’s platform is a gateway to global audiences, so we can’t wait to see how our highly engaging games perform across a greenfield landscape of emerging markets.”
The post QTech Games adds ReelPlay slots via ARC iGaming distribution appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
The Argentina rollout adds player tracking and QR-based cashless payments via Win Pay, the company says.
Win Systems has implemented its Wigos casino management system (CMS) at Casino City Center Rosario in Argentina, connecting more than 2,500 slot machines to operate and report in real time. The supplier announced the deployment on May 4, 2026.
According to Win Systems, the Wigos rollout centralizes operational management across gaming and customer-facing functions, with modular components spanning slots, tables, players, promotions, and payments. The company said the installation is designed to support operator oversight and decision-making through a single real-time view.
The project also introduces new functionality at the venue, including Player Tracking for player identification and management, and the activation of “Fun Plays.” Win Systems also said the site can enable a QR-based cashless option that allows players to load credit directly to a machine from a bank account or electronic wallet, via its Win Pay payment management platform.
Francisco de Moya, CEO of Halkkon Capital Partners, commented: “This launch represents an important step in the technological evolution of our operation, allowing us to optimize management, enhance the customer experience, and lay the groundwork for future developments.”
Eric Benchimol, CEO of Win Systems, added: “The deployment of Wigos at City Center Rosario is a clear example of how our technology adapts to large-scale operations, enabling operators to optimize processes, improve the player experience, and evolve toward increasingly digitalized models.” Darío Zutel, Executive Chairman of Win Systems, said: “This implementation is part of our growth strategy in the region and reflects our commitment to supporting operators with robust, scalable, and future-ready technology.”
The post Win Systems deploys Wigos CMS at Casino City Center Rosario, linking 2,500+ slots appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
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