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Swedish Regulator Plans to Ban Betting on Lower League Football Matches
By Jeff Osienya Apr 27, 2020 IndustryThe Swedish gaming watchdog is resorting to more restrictive measures to suppress match-fixing and keep local consumers safer from problem gambling in the current crisis.Spelinspektionen, the Swedish gambling regulator is garnering its efforts to further tighten the already restrictive laws by prohibiting placing wagers on lower-tier football leagues. As harsh as it sounds, however, the watchdog indicated that this move was meant to limit match-fixing in the country.
The gambling watchdog divulged their plans to update their anti-match-fixing strategies which it had initially announced back in January. The new efforts will be part of their venture to prevent locally licensed online betting companies from offering proposition bets where individual players have the potential to singlehandedly manipulate the outcomes of the results such as yellow cards and penalty kicks.
Highlights of Spelinspektionen’s New Proposal
Based on the regulator’s new pitch on updates to the rules, betting on football would be restricted to the fop four tiers in the country. Moreover, this new limit would also apply to lower-tier football matches from international markets. Likewise, placing wagers on training or friendly matches would also be restricted, irrespective of the tier occupied by the teams involved.
To top it all off, the local gambling watchdog also cautioned that it considered implementing the same limits across all sports that players can place wagers on in the country apart from football. As we speak, Spelinspektionen has invited other football governing institutions and gaming operators among other stakeholders to ponder upon the proposal and voice their opinions by 6th May.
It appears that Spelinspektionen’s decision was inspired by trending reports in local media of threats issued by bettors against amateur footballers of local teams. Given that virtually all major league sports have come to a halt due to the ongoing crisis, bettors who don’t have any other sports to place bets on have been giving players whose sports are still underway locally headaches.
More Restrictions Face the Swedish Gambling Market
The new proposal by Spelinspektionen is only part of a string of adjustments that regulatory authorities in the country have tabled since last week.
On Thursday, Ardalan Shekarabi the country’s Social Security Minister proposed a set of temporary limitations aimed to protect gamblers from harm in the wake of the pandemic. The new restrictions include a limit of SEK 5,000 in deposits per week for all bettors, as well as a loss limit for betting on vending machines.
These restrictions also included a mandatory requirement for all players to limit the time spent on both online gaming and betting on vending machines. Additionally, Ardalan’s proposal also aims to limit promotions to as much as SEK100.
Right now, these proposed restrictions on how gambling should be carried out in Sweden are still under public discussion, a window that will close on 7th May. Should the proposals be okayed, the Social Security Minister hopes that they will come into effect starting 1st June up until December 2020.
Could these Proposed Regulations Spell Doom for the Industry?
While these limitations appear to reduce the potential for irresponsible gaming and to protect consumers, proponents of the local gaming industry insist that the regulations will end up doing more harm than good should they come into effect.
Maarten Haijer, the EGBA (European Gaming and Betting Association) head, for instance, indicated that there’s no evidence compelling enough to prove that restricting average customer expenditure encourages safer gambling, in as much as the limits work for problem gamblers. Furthermore, according to the EGBA, there’s no indication of a rise in the average customer spending on gambling due to the ongoing pandemic.
The EGBA and BOS (Branschföreningen för Onlinespel) pointed out that the restriction could instead drive local consumers to international sites that aren’t regulated by the Swedish authorities, thereby exposing them to more danger.
On the question of restricting football betting to major league games, BOS, the Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling stated that if the local watchdog sincerely wanted to limit match-fixing, it should instead ensure that consumers only stuck to betting on locally licensed sites. That way, it would be much easier to detect and flag suspicious patterns in betting.
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