Sweden’s iGaming trade association BOS criticises Spelinspektionen’s channelisation strategy and accuses them of inadvertently acting in favour of black-market casino operators by making legal gambling less appealing.
In the world of regulated online gambling bodies the UK’s Gaming Commission is often under fire for being heavy-handed while Sweden’s Spelinspektionen on the other hand has been lauded as an example of how to create a firm yet fair market.
In recent months the tide has turned on this opinion as Sweden began to dole out weighty fines for a range of infractions. Of the brands to feel their jurisdictional wrath have been Bet365, ComeOn Sweden Ltd and the Flutter Entertainment Group to name a few. In terms of scope, these fines ranged from a low €10,000 to as much as €900,000!
✓The BOS Is Not Satisfied
While stepping on the toes of their licensees Spelinspektionen has found itself coming under friendly fire from Branschföreningen för Onlinespel (BOS), Sweden’s iGaming trade association.
Under the re-regulation which nullified the government-held gambling monopoly in Sweden and opened up the market to private licenced casinos Spelinspektionen had been given the task of reducing illegal black-market gambling to only 10% of all wagers placed by Swedish gamblers.
Rather than assist the market in attaining this goal BOS claims the harsher approach adopted by the regulator is harming it. They claim the market could be facing a reduction in legal gambling due to recent measures taken by Spelinspektionen:
Gustaf Hoffstedt, Secretary-General of BOS, said:
“My assessment is that the reduction is part of a trend. Unless the Government takes forceful action to protect its own reregulation the channelisation is likely to decrease further.”
✓Channelisation Is Not Working
BOS are dissatisfied with Spelinspektionen’s channelisation strategy which has only managed to get the market to an 85%-87% legal gambling limit. They further claim that even this percentage could be a false positive as the regulator has included horse racing bets which are solely operated by ATG, a state-owned racing operator.
Hoffstedt is adamant that the recent harsh regulations and heavy fines are in fact favouring illegal operators:
“Such [marketing] restrictions [for licenced online casino operators] would virtually mean giving away the Swedish gambling market to unlicensed operators. The Government is currently acting like the best friend of the black and grey market and this needs to end.”
He believes that unless the government steps in to make the market a favourable place to operate for licenced casinos there could be significant shrinkage in the legal casino sector with a parallel increase in the black market.
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