Sweden Bans Duel.com Operator That Refused to Drop Its Swedish Language Option

Sweden's gambling regulator has barred the company behind Duel.com with immediate effect. The operator had said it would keep offering Swedish, and the block on Swedish users it described was not in place when the regulator checked.

• Spelinspektionen has prohibited Immortal Snail LLC, which it found owns and runs duel.com, from offering gambling in Sweden without a licence, in a decision dated 28 October that applies immediately
• The regulator found Swedish and the krona offered in the site's payment options, and Swedish-language marketing aimed at Swedish consumers
• According to the decision, the company called Swedish an international language that it would keep offering, and said Sweden would be IP-blocked
• A follow-up check on 28 October found no IP block in place, with Swedish and SEK still shown to users logging in from a Swedish IP address
• The same day the regulator also barred Lufilight Ltd over Ivibet, Hellspin and Slotsgem, weeks after it revoked Charm Entertainment's licences

Sweden's Regulator Bars Duel.com's Operator After a Follow-Up Check

Spelinspektionen, Sweden's gambling regulator, announced on 28 October that it had banned Immortal Snail LLC from offering gambling in Sweden without the necessary licence. According to the decision, case 26Si2185, the company is registered at an address in Charlestown, Nevis, in the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, and duel.com states that it holds licence number ALSI-202411026-FI1 on Anjouan, in the Union of the Comoros.

The regulator opened its case on suspicion that the site was targeting Sweden without a licence. It attempted a covert test purchase, which was not completed, and found Swedish as a language and SEK as a selectable currency when choosing payment methods, as well as marketing through Swedish-language websites aimed at Swedish consumers. Nothing in the inquiry showed that Swedish consumers were prevented from registering an account, the decision says.

According to the decision, Immortal Snail argued that Swedish is an international language, said Sweden would be IP-blocked, said it could not control whether payments were made in SEK, and said it would not stop offering Swedish on the site. A second check on 28 October found no IP block, Swedish and SEK still shown on login from a Swedish IP address, and continuing Swedish-language marketing.

The Legal Test Is Whether a Site Targets Sweden

The Gambling Act, Spellagen (2018:1138), applies to gambling offered in Sweden, and online gambling not directed at the Swedish market is excluded. Citing the act's preparatory works, the decision says targeting is an overall assessment in which Swedish text and Swedish-currency deposits or winnings count. The ban rests on the regulator's power to issue the orders and prohibitions needed to enforce the act. The act allows such a prohibition to carry a conditional fine, or vite, but none is attached to this one.

The same day, Spelinspektionen barred Lufilight Ltd, whose ivibet.com, hellspin.com and slotsgem.com redirected to mirror sites that changed domain during the inquiry. It barred those behind stakes.com on 14 September, and in August 2025 banned Liquid Entertainment N.V. over duelbits.com, marketed through affiliates, Kick streamers and Google ads.

A Ban Without a Fine Leaves the Operator's Choice Intact

The decision records an operator that defended its Swedish-language offer and then did not apply the block it had described. A prohibition without a vite attached carries no immediate financial cost for continuing, and a regulator in Strängnäs has little reach over a company registered in Nevis that cites an Anjouan licence. What it does establish is the legal finding, which matters for the parts of the chain Sweden can reach: payment providers and the Swedish-language sites marketing the brand.

The Payment Tool Was Built for Cards

Amendments to the Gambling Act in 2023 let the government require payment service providers to reject card payments to unlicensed gambling identified through merchant codes, with sanction fees for providers that fail. By its terms, that reaches cards, not other payment routes. Spelinspektionen's 2025 report puts channelisation at 84%, against 85% for 2024, with betting at 96% and online casino at 81%, or 68% on its traffic-based estimate. The most common reason players gave for gambling unlicensed was self-exclusion through Spelpaus.se, the report says, which is exactly the custom a site ignoring Swedish rules can take. The online trade body BOS has pressed the regulator to weigh what its rules do to the licensed market, in a debate where channelisation estimates have long been contested.

Spelinspektionen has put on record that Duel.com targets Sweden, helped by the operator's own submissions. Whether the ban changes anything depends on whether the payment and marketing routes into Sweden can be closed, because the block the operator itself described had not been applied when the regulator checked.