On September 14, 2026, the Swedish gambling regulator, Spelinspektionen, took the decision to ban those responsible for Stakes.com from offering gambling in Sweden without the required licence, with immediate effect.
The regulator found that the site was aimed at Swedish players: Sweden was pre-selected as the country when someone signed up from a Swedish IP address. The ban is part of the regulator’s work against unlicensed gambling directed at the Swedish market.
Other Enforcement Actions Highlight Sweden’s Regulatory Approach
Stakes.com is not a one-off. Spelinspektionen has announced nine other bans since January 2026. They can be followed on Spelinspektionen’s overview of illegal gambling, which leads to every decision and the grounds behind it.
The latest two, against Lufilight Ltd and Immortal Snail LLC, were announced on October 28. The regulator states that its goal is to make sure gambling takes place with companies that follow Swedish rules.
Even if a ban is a hard decision, it’s not always the final word. The prohibition against Claymore Malta Ltd was revoked in March, for example, while the one concerning those behind Dracula.casino was revoked in July, according to the regulator’s decision pages.
Action abroad and the effect of bans
The actions taken aren’t isolated to just one country. For example, Spelinspektionen banned Novatech Solutions in March 2026. The Dutch gambling regulator Kansspelautoriteit fined the same company €24.846 million for offering games illegally through Qbet.com and 55Bet.com. According to the Dutch regulator, it was the highest fine it had imposed on an illegal operator to date.
The effect of the actions varies. Spelinspektionen says that follow-up checks show that a ban might have an effect on traffic to a website. But this is not always the case. The regulator also reports that several companies changed their course while they were still under review, and those cases were closed without a ban or any other action.
Licensing status remains central to Sweden’s regulated gambling market
Sweden’s Gambling Act, in force since January 1, 2019, requires a licence to offer gambling directed at the Swedish market, whether the operator is based in Sweden or abroad.
Nothing changes if a company has a licence from another country, because even if the regulator does check for licences in other countries, the Swedish licence is the only one that applies on the Swedish market.
What the regulator is looking at is where the site points. If online games are not aimed at Sweden, they don’t count as offered in Sweden. Spelinspektionen looks at signs such as whether the website has Swedish text, whether it offers deposits and winnings in Swedish kronor, along with similar pointers to the Swedish audience.
No matter what the site claims about itself, a player can go to Spelinspektionen’s official licence register, which lists every company with a valid licence or permit.
Why casino branding does not always reveal licensing status
The name of a casino is no guide to its licence. This is because the name of the website is a brand, while the licence itself is held by the company behind that brand and the site.
The case with Stakes.com shows this clearly: Spelinspektionen said it had not been able to establish which legal entity operated the site. Therefore, the regulator aimed the ban at those responsible for the website, not at a named company.
The reverse can also be the case. One company can have several brands and run different casinos. For example, in its decision of March 11, 2026, Spelinspektionen listed five different websites that the company Novatech Solutions owned and ran: Qbet.com, 55bet.com, 30bet.com, Mangacasino.com and Slotexpress.com.
The official licence register also lists the gambling websites of each company with an online or betting licence, enabling a casino’s brand to be matched with the company that holds the licence.
What the enforcement activity means for players
Spelinspektionen’s list of banned sites is not a list of every site aiming at the Swedish market without a licence. The regulator notes that the market for unlicensed gambling changes quickly and that operators can change methods or use several websites.
A site can look serious and well established. It can have a complete social media presence and promotion with banners, text messages and sponsored search results. That doesn’t mean it has a licence.
In the end, the official register is the place where licence status is settled. Readers interested in how such a check works in practice can turn to a Swedish-language walkthrough for checking an online casino’s licence, which explains how to find a casino’s licensing information and cross-reference it with Spelinspektionen’s records.