Petter Nylander was on his way home to the UK when he was arrested by Dutch authorities on Tuesday. He was detained on charges of a warrant from 2006. It was a French warrant that was based on court filings by PMU the Francaise des Jeux and horse betting monopoly. They stated that Unibet had broken French National laws protecting lotteries and horse racing. The laws considered to be broken were from 1836 and 1891.
The arrest brought confusion to many in the business because almost all court rulings in same type cases for different businesses have been found not in violation of any old laws. It has also been stated that the EU treaty and the old laws contradict each other. Most find it rather silly that he was arrested on 100 year old laws.
Nylander has not been charged with any crime yet and it will most likely be tomorrow when more information will be available. Ragner Hellenius is the acting CEO as of now and had this to say on the arrest: “This situation is clearly unacceptable and extraordinary in ours and in any industry. It is our view that this use of the possibility for cross-border legal actions is a clear abuse of their true aim, and in all aspects, disproportionate. Unibet is licensed in the UK, Malta and Italy for gambling, listed on the OMX Nordic Stock Exchange and a company complying with European law.
This is clearly a breach of the EU Treaty and the fundamental principles of the European Union. We are upset of this unlawful act and harassment against our company and a citizen of Europe and we will take every action possible to bring this matter to justice. This criminalization of a specific individual is a tactic that we have seen French authorities using before and something we will not tolerate. We take for granted that Petter Nylander will be released immediately.” He stated this to the Gaming Intelligence Group.