Spelinspektionen duel.com ban orders Immortal Snail out of Sweden

Sweden's gambling regulator has ordered Immortal Snail LLC, the company behind duel.com, to stop offering gambling in the country with immediate effect. Spelinspektionen announced the decision on 28 October 2026, the day it was taken. It applies at once and can be appealed.

The four-page decision (case 26Si2185) was taken by unit head Robert Larsson after a presentation by investigator Nikolas Tsoros, and closes a supervisory case opened on suspicion that duel.com was aimed at Swedish players without a Swedish licence.

What Spelinspektionen found on duel.com

The regulator ran a covert test purchase on the site, though the purchase was not completed. Its review turned up Swedish as a selectable language for payment methods, the krona as a selectable currency, and marketing through Swedish-language websites aimed at Swedish consumers. It found nothing to show that Swedish players were prevented from registering and opening an account.

The decision identifies Immortal Snail LLC as a company registered in Charlestown, Nevis, in the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis. duel.com states that the company holds licence number ALSI-202411026-FI1 from Anjouan, in the Union of the Comoros. After an overall assessment, Spelinspektionen concluded that the company provides gambling aimed at the Swedish market and holds no Swedish licence.

The reply that set this case apart

Immortal Snail told the regulator it would not drop Swedish from the site. The decision, in the English translation published by SBC News, records the company's position: "The company has stated that Swedish is an international language and stated that Sweden as a country should be IP-blocked." It adds that the company said it cannot control whether payments are made in kronor, and that it should not cease offering Swedish as a language.

Spelinspektionen went back to duel.com on 28 October. According to the same translation, that check "revealed that the IP blocking against Sweden has not been implemented," and the regulator added: "The Swedish currency SEK and Swedish as a language still appear when logging in from a Swedish IP address." It also noted continued Swedish-language marketing of the site.

Duel founder Ossi Ketola has met the Swedish regulator before. iGaming Expert reported that he previously operated CSGOEmpire, which was prohibited from targeting Sweden in November 2023.

A second ban, and mirror sites that kept moving

The same day produced another decision (case 26Si2241) against Lufilight Ltd, which Spelinspektionen says runs Ivibet, Hellspin and Slotsgem. When the regulator checked ivibet.com, hellspin.com and slotsgem.com, the sites redirected to mirrors at ivibettnow.com, hellspin222.com and gemslots1.com. Those mirrors preselected Sweden and the +46 country code for anyone registering from a Swedish IP address, and the brands were promoted through Swedish-language affiliate marketing.

Spelinspektionen put the findings to the company and received no reply. A follow-up review found the mirrors had changed domain names, with Sweden and +46 still preselected and the Swedish-language marketing still running. No second reply arrived. The decision says Lufilight appears in the Kahnawake licensing register as holding a licence in Kahnawake, Canada, and that the regulator could not identify the company's registration number, licence number or address.

The two October decisions follow a run of orders listed in Spelinspektionen's decision register: stakes.com's operator on 14 September, RBGAMING N.V. and Softon Ltd on 9 July, Twocent Technology Limited on 29 June, Rust Clash Entertainment Ltd on 27 April and Novatech Solutions N.V. on 11 March.

Why the targeting test is hard to enforce

Both cases rest on the same legal question. Under Sweden's Gambling Act (2018:1138), online gambling that is not aimed at the Swedish market is not considered to be provided in Sweden and falls outside the law. A licence is required only once a site is judged to be targeting Swedish players, through an overall assessment in which Swedish text or deposits and winnings in kronor can be relevant factors. The regulator's stated view is that if Swedish consumers cannot register and open an account, the gambling cannot be considered provided in Sweden.

Spelinspektionen has been open about the limits. Its 2025 report on online gambling outside the licensed market estimated the channelisation rate at 86% in 2023, lower for commercial online gambling, and said around 45% of traffic to unlicensed gambling sites in 2024 went to operators claiming a licence from a third country. The same report concluded that the targeting criterion has proved difficult to apply in practice, with the burden of proof resting on the regulator, and described a grey zone that also limits its use of other tools such as restricting or stopping payments.

Other European regulators are moving against offshore sites too. On 22 October the Netherlands' Kansspelautoriteit fined EOD Code SRL €37 million for gambling offered without a licence across 12 websites, including Instantcasino, its highest penalty yet for illegal gambling. EOD Code also appears in Spelinspektionen's register, with a Swedish ban dated 12 May 2025.

In Britain, the Illegal Gambling Taskforce is focused on black market payments and advertising, and the government has proposed banning unlicensed gambling sponsors from 2027.