SWEDISH DISPUTES

27 July 2007

Online gambling firm Unibet and Swedish horse racing monopoly clash

The Swedish news publication Travnet reports that Sweden's horse racing monopoly AB Trav och Galopp (ATG) has launched litigation against the Malta licensed Unibet online gambling group on allegations of illegally obtaining information on horse racing from the ATG database.

The ATG accusation is centred on claims that Unibet has been using information from the company's database without permission since 2000, and that despite protests by ATG in 2004 there has been no agreement on the issue.

Consequently, the Swedish horse racing monopoly is seeking relief from the courts, suing Unibet for a reported $36 million. This sum is said to be 10 percent of the money that Unibet has made on horse betting since the company started to use the information from the ATG database.

The claim alleges that ATG invested more than $30 million in building the database, and that Unibet would not have been able to provide horse race betting without the information it contains.

A spokesperson for ATG told Travnet that the company believes it has a good chance to win in court in accordance with rulings in similar cases both in Sweden and the European Union.

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