- The amount repaid is more than double what was originally reported.
- In total 15 accounts were identified as operating unauthorized software.
- According to the report, the majority of the affected players lost less than SEK 500 ($88).
Swedish national operator Svenska Spel announced this week that SEK 3.8 million (approximately USD $586k) has been repaid to players who were victims of a bot ring that operated across more than a dozen accounts for at least six months.
As exclusively reported on pokerfuse back in February, Svenska Spel had suspended accounts and initiated an investigation after players reported suspicious activity in NL Hold’em games from NL50 up to NL500.
In a statement published earlier this week, Svenska Spel CEO Lennart Käll stated that the long wait to repay players was due to a thorough, drawn-out investigation to uncover all accounts involved and to identify all victims. Millions of hands were analyzed.
Following these investigations, the amount repaid is more than double what was originally suspected, and one more bot account was identified.
According to the report, the majority of the affected players lost less than SEK 500 ($77).
Svenska Spel also reported that, following the internal investigation, various improvements will be made to their monitoring system, new procedures have been adopted, and new methods of detection implemented.
Although only referred to as “unauthorized software” that “violated Swedish rules for online poker,” it is understood from player reports that the accounts operated bots—illicit computer programs that automate online poker play.
Bots are prohibited on all real-money poker sites, and are illegal in certain regulated jurisdictions, including Sweden. The investigation was referred to the police in February, which triggered a fraud investigation.
State-owned Svenska Spel, literally “Sweden Plays,” is one of a few authorized gambling providers in the country, and the only operator licensed to offer online poker. Since mid-2006 it has operated an online poker room using GTECH G2 software, open to Swedish players only.