The Swedish Gambling Market Commission (Spelmarknadsutredningen) has published a report into the country’s online gambling regulations, and suggested even stricter rules. 

Led by special investigator and former MP, Anna-Lena Sörenson, the report has recommended new measures including a risk classification system for gambling products, with any products classified as high risk should be banned from being advertised between 6am and 9pm. 

Additionally, the report also calls for the SEK5000 deposit limit, that was introduced on the pretext of being a temporary response to the COVID-19 crisis, to be made permanent. 

Other proposals include a law concerning operators’ reporting requirements, and the relaxation of bonus restrictions for operators that raise money for charities, like lotteries, so that they can compete better against commercial operators. 

Though subject to a separate enquiry, the report also calls for tougher measures to be taken against unlicensed operators. 

The report rejects proposed statutory levels for horseracing and sports betting, and says the country’s Gambling Act is not the right legislation to cover controls on video game related issues like loot boxes, suggesting this should be dealt with at the EU level. 

Regarding the findings, MP, Anna-Lena Sörenson, said:

“This has been a complex assignment that has touched on a large number of different issues linked to gaming regulation, which in some cases have required difficult trade-offs. I believe that the proposals we come up with today can both contribute to strengthening consumer protection and make regulation more appropriate.” 

While Minister for Social Security, Ardalan Shekarabi, added:

“Spelmarknadsutredningen’s report will form an important basis for the Government’s forthcoming measures.”

Predictably, the Branscheforenigen för Onlienspel (BOS), which represents licensed operators, expressed dismay, with secretary-general, Gustaf Hoffstedt, saying:

“Sweden has invested in a licensing system with 102 operators that offer a high level of consumer protection. They pay around SEK4bn annually in gaming tax, invest in workplaces and staff, sponsor Swedish sports and contribute to Swedish technology know-how.

“Banning licensed gaming companies from marketing their services to Swedish consumers while leaving unlicensed companies free to offer their services to Swedish consumers is a bad proposal.

“This only leads to reduced consumer protection and to erode the Swedish gaming market.”

AYO.NEWS says:

While this is awful news for those operators trying to offer services in Sweden legitimately, it is something we’ve expected for some time now.

As we’ve said before, the ‘temporary’ restrictions were never going to be temporary, and were never anything to do with the COVID-19 crisis. It’s been obvious from the very beginning that characters like Shekarabi have been using the crisis as an excuse to make political capital, and have zero interest in ensuring a vibrant gaming industry or reducing problem gambling. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020.

Norwegian state-owned gambling operator, Norsk Tipping, has announced a partnership with self-exclusion software provider Gamban. 

The deal means Norsk Tipping’s players will be able to use Gamban’s free software to stop themselves from accessing online casinos and sportsbooks, via websites or apps, in Norway. 

Gamban gives users the options to self-exclude for 180 days, 1 year, 3 years, or 5 years, and works on all devices. The blocking service is being made available to all Norwegian players, not just Norsk Tipping customers. 

Commenting on the news head of responsible gaming at Norsk Tipping, Bjørn Helge Hoffmann, said:

“Gamban is a valuable supplement to Norsk Tipping’s own exclusion systems. The filter makes it possible for us to offer extended protection to customers who want to block access to all gaming offers on the internet – both regulated and unregulated.”

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The Belgian Gaming Commission has worked with the country’s top football league to develop a series of responsible advertising guidelines.

Under the new rules, Jupiler Pro League clubs must report all gambling sponsorship deals to the commission, and are banned from partnerships with gambling operators not licensed by the commission to operate in Belgium. 

The commission will inform the league when operators commit infringements, or when an operator loses its license, so that the league and any affected clubs can take action. 

More rules include a ban on inducements to bet, and a prohibition on betting “on certain stages of a match” – though which stages specifically have not been made clear at this point. 

A new integrity committee, formed of academic and sports representatives, is also to be formed to monitor club policies and propose new measures. 

In a joint statement, the commission and league said:

“The absolute starting point of communication and marketing around games of chance and betting is the protection of consumers. It is essential that excessive gambling should be prevented as much as possible. That is why the Gaming Commission and the Pro League want to go further than what is legally imposed today.”

AYO.NEWS says:

While all advertising, for any product or service, should always be truthful and responsible, it’s hard not to feel that Belgium is on the same slippery slope that landed Spain and Italy where they are today. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020.

Dutch gambling regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) is set to begin live testing of CRUKS, its national self-exclusion scheme, this week. 

Managed by the KSA, CRUKS is a self-exclusion scheme, based on a centralised database, that is intended to prevent vulnerable gamblers from registering with, and playing at, both land-based and licensed online gambling operators.  

With the Netherlands’ licensing window slated to launch on 1 March 2021, the KSA has warned online gambling operators to make themselves fully aware of the requirements regarding referring players to the CRUKS system. 

Prior to the expected launch of the Netherlands’ regulated online gambling market on 1 September 2021, licensed operators must ensure they are fully integrated with CRUKS, and have tested its referral scheme. 

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Internet search giant Google is set to enable users to block gambling advertisements. 

The company says it is introducing the new feature in response to feedback from users, and that the new feature will also cover other “sensitive” subjects like alcohol. 

Although Google already gives users the option to “mute” ads, to avoid seeing the same one multiple times, it doesn’t currently provide an option of blocking adverts across entire categories. 

In a statement, Google said the new feature was an extra step towards putting choice in users’ hands and giving them further control of their ad experience. 

Set to debut in the United States, Google will be gradually rolling out the feature globally across Google Ads and YouTube from early 2021. 

AYO.NEWS says:

At the end of the day, the people who will turn gambling ads off (ie. potential problem gamblers, or those who have zero interest in gambling) are not who operators should be targeting anyway, so this shouldn’t really impact responsible operators or affiliates much. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020.

The Swedish Gambling Authority has fined Kindred’s Spooniker and former racing monopoly ATG over loopholes circumventing the country’s deposit cap. 

Apparently, the action resulted from a July 2020 inspection to ensure operators were complying with the country’s controversial, and supposedly temporary, deposit cap of SEK5000 for online casinos. 

During the investigation, the gambling authority (Spelinspektionen) required the operators to show how they were complying with the deposit cap rule. 

However, despite Spooniker and ATG both telling their customers that those with limits of over SEK5000 could only use their sports betting offering, it was found that players could simply set high limits, deposit money, and then lower their limits and continue to play at the casinos, with more than SEK5000. 

Responding to the investigation, ATG said that under 100 players took advantage of the loophole, and both operators pointed out that the law concerns the size of deposits for online casino players, and does not cover the amount already deposited in an account, so in their view they hadn’t breached rules anyway. 

In a statement ATG explained:

“To apply the provision in the way that Spelinspektionen has would be contrary to the principle of legality. ATG has implemented the provision in accordance with the wording and in accordance with the Government’s memorandum.”

However, despite the obvious logic of ATG’s argument, it didn’t wash with Spelinspektionen, who responded by saying:

“If it turns out that a player through can add more than SEK 5000 per week for online gaming, e.g. by first putting in money under the pretense that they will be used for betting, but then making the money deposited available for online gaming, the licensee is not considered to act in accordance with the temporary regulation.

“That fact that ATG has chosen to suspend a number of players who have bypassed the deposit limits in the manner described above do not change the Swedish Gaming Inspectorate’s assessment, but only reinforces the image that the way that ATG has chosen to manage the deposit limit does not fulfill its function.”

Spelinspektionen has ruled that although neither breach could be classed as serious enough to warrant license revocation, they were serious enough to demand a SEK1m fine for every week the loopholes remain open, starting three weeks from the publication of the ruling. 

AYO.NEWS says:

It’s gotten to the point where it’s hard to take anything Spelinspektionen says seriously anymore. The entire ‘temporary’ COVID-19 emergency gambling regulations long ago descended into farce, and are demonstrably having the exact opposite effect to those espoused by slimy politicians like Shekarabi – simply punishing legitimate, licensed operators while pushing vulnerable gamblers to unlicensed, unregulated offshore casinos. 

The Swedish debacle should serve as a warning to those pushing for stricter regulation elsewhere, like the UK. Unfortunately, we doubt the anti-gambling brigade will ever look at the issue holistically and logically, and will instead continue to be driven by simplistic emotions. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020.