Tobias Fagerlund, Global Gaming CEO, has vowed that “our fighting spirit and will to prevail are very much alive,” as across the board decreases were felt in 2019’s second quarter.
The embattled firm, which runs the igaming entity Ninja Casino alongside spellandet.com, had licences for commercial online gambling and betting revoked by Swedish regulator the Spelinspektionen, earlier this year.
Three subsequent appeals, to the Administrative Court, Administrative Court’s Chamber of Appeal and Supreme Administrative Court, requesting that the decision should not apply while a final judgement is still being sought, were subsequently rejected, as Global Gaming turned its full attention to the ongoing judicial review.
Revenue for Q2 fell 42 per cent to SEK 132.2m (2018: SEK 227.8m) and gross profit came in at SEK 69.2m (2018: SEK 136.1m), which it states “is largely due to the revocation of the Swedish licence”.
Fagerlund stressed “in one fell swoop, most of the group’s revenue was wiped out,” as “draconian measures” and “drastic organisational changes” faced the organisation.
Issuing a defence of the company, Fagerlund stressed a belief that early issues were rectified after an unclear beginning in the re-regulated market: “Like many of our industry colleagues, we too have had shortcomings in the very early days since obtaining the licence.
“An unclear regulatory framework, lack of detailed instructions from the regulator, as well as their reluctance to dialogue concerning perceived shortcomings and their resolution, has unnecessarily led to different interpretations of the new legislation by players in the market.
“However, we are of the absolute opinion that those issues were rectified and operations were conducted fully in line with the requirements of the new gambling legislation for operators in Sweden, hence also that the regulator’s decision lacks legal support and is disproportionate.”
Global Gaming did recently return to the market however, after launching NanoCasino alongside Finnplay, with the entity operated by the Viral Interactive subsidiary of the latter, which holds a Swedish licence for online gambling.
Concluding his lengthy correspondence, Fagerlund vowed to return the firm to a period of profitability and growth: “Despite the draconian measures and drastic organisational changes we are facing, we cannot fail to notice that, internally, our fighting spirit and will to prevail are very much alive, which in itself creates conditions we should not underestimate.
“The future will undoubtedly place great demands on us as an organisation, as well as on me as its CEO. We must live with the consequences of past mistakes but we can also learn and grow stronger because of them. What I can promise is that we will do our utmost to get back to profitability and growth – and I believe we’ll be successful.”
