Unibet's Swedish CEO Petter Nylander has been arrested in the Netherlands by order of the French authorities. Nylander was detained by Dutch police on his way home to the UK for breaking laws protecting France's state gambling monopolies, lottery Française des Jeux and horse betting PMU.

A statement from Unibet said that while it was aware of the possibility of the arrest, it was surprised by the timing. It went on to add that it was 'outraged' by France's total disregard of European Community law regarding state monopolies.

Unibet’s CFO and Deputy CEO Ragnar Hellenius – who has been appointed by the Board of Unibet as acting CEO until Mr. Nylander is released – called the situation unacceptable and extraordinary, and called for the immediate release of Nylander.

"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," Hellenius stated. "This is clearly a breach of the EU Treaty and the fundamental principles of the European Union."

He continued: "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 criminalisation 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."