Spain fines Ketola casino five million euros as Sweden bans operators

Ossi Ketola’s online casinos have faced regulatory sanctions in Spain and Sweden, Yle reports. Spain fined the company behind CSGOEmpire five million euros in 2025, while Swedish authorities prohibited the companies behind CSGOEmpire and Duel from operating.

Spain’s gambling regulator said CSGOEmpire’s operator, Moonrail Limited, had committed “very serious infringements” by offering games to customers in Spain without a licence. The regulator ordered the company to stop operating in the country. CSGOEmpire is no longer accessible there.

In Sweden, regulators banned the company behind CSGOEmpire in 2023 and the company behind Duel in October 2026, according to documents reviewed by Yle. Authorities said both casinos had targeted Swedish customers.

For CSGOEmpire, regulators cited the site’s availability in Swedish, payment services aimed at Swedish customers and advertising on Swedish-language websites. The company did not respond to the regulator’s request for comment. Duel was also available in Swedish and advertised on Swedish-language websites, according to the authorities. Its operator disputed the regulator’s assessment.

Ketola, a Finnish entrepreneur who runs the two casinos, has attracted attention this year for a series of stunts. People dressed as SpongeBob SquarePants have disrupted rapper Sliki’s performances after a public dispute between the two. Ketola has denied involvement in the disturbances.

Yle reported earlier this week that CSGOEmpire earns Ketola tens of millions of euros a year. The casinos are registered abroad, and Yle noted that the legal status of online casinos can be open to interpretation in many countries.

Ketola’s casinos have also been involved in a dispute with X, the social media platform owned by Elon Musk. The parties settled the case out of court in October. Helsingin Sanomat previously reported that X accused Ketola and his companies of, among other things, trying to bribe employees to obtain usernames referring to Ketola and Duel. Ketola’s companies denied X’s allegations, the newspaper reported.