Sweden halts gambling advertising prosecutions
20 March 2008
PRESS RELEASE -- In Sweden, an agency of the nation's Prosecution Authority has announced that it is halting prosecutions against two prominent newspapers that accepted advertising from online gambling providers.
The order was issued by UC Malmo and followed an appeal by the two Swedish newspapers, Aftonbladet and Expressen, after they had been found guilty of accepting advertising in violation of the Scandinavian nation's lottery laws.
The newspapers had been at the forefront of a public appeal in which the nation's lottery laws were exposed as incompatible with European Union trade agreements prompting the Swedish Court of Appeals to investigate. The Court agreed that Sweden's lottery laws could possibly be contradictory to European legislation, leading to the cases being dropped.
Aftonbladet could now appeal against fines of $25,000 per advertisement it accepted, an amount that could reach ten of millions of dollars.