Arrest of Unibet CEO Petter Nylander on a French Warrant shocks the industry

Unibet CEO Petter Nylander was arrested today while boarding a plane in Holland, heading to his home in the U.K. Authorities pulled him aside and detained him on a French warrant issued against him.

The warrant in effect was based on court filings from 2006. In these filings, the French Lottery Authority, Française des Jeux and horse betting monopoly PMU asserted that Unibet was in violation of the French National laws protecting lotteries and horse racing. The two laws cited had both been on the books for over 100 years, with the one law enacted in 1836, and the other in 1891.

The French authorities seemed unfazed by the arrest, with one official calling it 'perfectly normal'.

Unibet's acting CEO Ragnar Hellenius was very upset when hearing about the arrest, telling the Gaming Intelligence Group, "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.