SWEDISH GAMBLING OPERATORS FACE POSSIBILITY OF EVEN TIGHTER RESTRICTIONS

Swedish gambling operators are facing the possibility of even tighter marketing restrictions, after a proposed amendment to the Gaming Act. 

Yesterday, the Ministry of Finance proposed amending the Gaming Act’s stipulated “requirement for moderation in the marketing of games to consumers,” to a requirement for “special moderation.” Predictably, proponents of the change to the law, which is slated to take effect on 1 July 2022, say it will further protect Swedish consumers. 

Though responses to the proposal are being accepted by the Ministry of Finance until 14 October 2021, the Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling (BOS) has already flat out rejected the proposed change.

BOS Secretary General, Gustaf Hoffstedt, pointed out that licensed operators have already cut their advertising purchases by around 50% since 2018-19, and that advertising plays a critical role in persuading Swedish consumers to choose licensed operators rather than black market offshore sites. 

With the war between licensed gambling operators and those trying to supress the industry heating up, four of the country’s biggest operators, Betsson Group, Kindred Group, William Hill, and LeoVegas, have thrown their support behind BOS to launch Fakta om spel – a website providing objective facts and statistics about the licensed gambling market in Sweden. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Quite apart from the ludicrously vague wording of the proposed amendment, which is bound to lead to nothing but confusion, it’s quite obvious that there is a politically motivated campaign against the Swedish gambling industry from certain elements of the country’s government. 

Perfectly illustrating this politically, and possibly ideologically, motivated campaign is Minister for Social Security Ardalan Shekarabi. The mastermind behind Sweden’s draconian emergency gambling restrictions introduced during the height of the COVID crisis, Shekarabi has repeatedly been accused of lying and distorting the truth to further his agenda. Indeed, earlier this month, the Riksday’s Constitutional Committee judged some of his most influential comments were “unfounded.”