Sweden’s gambling regulator, Spelinspektionen, has banned Immortal Snail LLC, the Nevis company behind the crypto casino Duel.com, from offering gambling in Sweden without a Swedish licence. The decision, dated 28 October 2026 (case 26Si2185), takes effect immediately. What makes it unusual is the operator’s own defence. Duel told the regulator that Sweden would be IP-blocked. When Spelinspektionen checked again on the day of the decision, the block was not there.
What the regulator found on duel.com
The case opened on a suspicion that duel.com was aimed at Swedish players. Spelinspektionen lists three findings: Swedish was offered as a language when choosing a payment method, Swedish kronor (SEK) could be selected at the same step, and the site was promoted through Swedish-language websites written for Swedish consumers. Nothing in the investigation showed that people in Sweden were stopped from registering. The regulator also tried a covert test purchase, which it says was not completed.
Under the Swedish Gambling Act, online gambling that is not aimed at the Swedish market is not treated as offered in Sweden. The regulator decides that with an overall assessment, and Swedish text or SEK deposits and payouts are among the signs the law’s preparatory works name. Its decision adds one practical test: if Swedish consumers cannot open an account, it does not regard the gambling as offered in Sweden at all.
The block that was promised
Immortal Snail answered the regulator in writing. According to the decision, it 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. The follow-up check on 28 October found the IP block had not been put in place: SEK and Swedish still appeared when logging in from a Swedish IP address, and the Swedish-language marketing was still running. On that basis Spelinspektionen concluded that Duel targets Sweden, and banned it.
The Swedish trade site Bettingbladet reported that it reached Duel from a Swedish IP address at 19:30 the same evening and opened an account with a username and password, although SEK and Swedish were no longer selectable at that point. That is the outlet’s own test, not a finding in the decision. When we read Duel’s terms of service on 29 October (marked as updated 6 October), the list of countries it does not accept players from included Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States, but not Sweden.
Crypto balances and an Anjouan licence
Duel’s terms say account balances are held in cryptocurrency and that any dollar figure shown is only an estimate. They name Immortal Snail LLC, Nevis registration L22982, as operator and cite licence ALSI-202411026-FI1 from Anjouan in the Comoros, the same licence number the regulator noted on the site. The Comoros central bank has said it does not recognise Anjouan’s gaming licences, as we reported in October, and our licence check of 17 crypto casino platforms found Anjouan behind seven of them. For Sweden none of that matters: the decision turns only on the missing Swedish licence.
A second ban the same day
Spelinspektionen issued a parallel decision against Lufilight Ltd, which it says runs Ivibet, Hellspin and Slotsgem under a licence listed in Kahnawake’s register. Those sites sent Swedish visitors to mirror domains with Sweden and the +46 dialling code preselected at sign-up. During the case the mirrors changed domain names but kept the Swedish defaults, and the regulator treated the new domains as the same business. Lufilight did not reply. The two decisions bring this year’s prohibitions in the regulator’s illegal-gambling news archive to ten (see chart). The list includes Twocent Technology Limited, which the Anjouan register lists for BC.GAME and which Sweden banned in June.
Key facts
Decision: Spelinspektionen, prohibition on offering gambling in Sweden without a licence, Immortal Snail LLC (duel.com), case 26Si2185, dated 28 October 2026, immediate effect, open to appeal.
Legal basis cited: Swedish Gambling Act (2018:1138), chapter 1 section 2, chapter 3 section 3, chapter 18 sections 9 a, 23 and 25.
Findings: Swedish language and SEK at the payment step; Swedish-language marketing; no bar on Swedish registration; covert test purchase not completed; IP block not in place at the 28 October recheck.
Licence stated on the site: Anjouan, ALSI-202411026-FI1.
Same-day decision: Lufilight Ltd (Ivibet, Hellspin, Slotsgem), case 26Si2241.
Sources: Spelinspektionen news item and both decisions (28 October 2026); Duel terms of service (read 29 October 2026); Bettingbladet (28 October 2026) for its own registration test.
Why it matters for GambleFi
A country block is easy to promise a regulator and slow to deliver. Sweden’s decision shows the regulator checking whether the promise was kept before it ruled, and treating language and currency options as evidence of targeting. For operators behind iGaming tokens (GambleFi tokens) with Anjouan or similar licences, a ban like this is a reminder that an offshore licence does not answer a local one. For how these platforms are licensed, see the GambleFi FAQ. This is a report on a regulatory decision, not legal or gambling advice.