Only a Few Percentage of Swedish Gamblers Can Recognize Licensed Gambling Sites
Published December 20, 2022 by Admin
A recently published survey has exposed that approximately 10% of Swedish gamblers know how to identify licensed gambling websites, indicating a lack of awareness among players about distinguishing between licensed and unlicensed gambling sites.
A report made by the Skopm consulting firm, commissioned by the Swedish regulator body Spelinspektionen, surveyed 1,600 adults in Sweden, asking them about their gambling habits during the year 2021. The survey found that approximately 55% of past-year gamblers believed playing with licensed sites had advantages, and only as low as 2% only said they had deliberately and knowingly played with an unlicensed site in 2021. However, only 10% of gamblers knew how to identify whether an operator was licensed, which remained the same from the previous year.
This suggests that there has yet to be any progress in educating the public about the differences between licensed and unlicensed operators. Regular players were more likely to be able to identify licensed operators, while 31% listed an operator being licensed as an essential factor in choosing an operator. Meanwhile, 21% of respondents said they either will or might play with unlicensed operators.
Percentage of the Population That Engages in Gambling
A little above 70% of the adults in Sweden engaged in the form of gambling during the year 2021, a slight decrease compared to 2020. This figure included over 50% who had gambled in the past month and approximately 40% who had gambled in the past week before being surveyed, up from 34% the previous year and the highest amount since 2013. More men were more likely to have gambled in the past week, with approximately 47% doing so compared to a 30% of women.
Older people and people who are living outside of Sweden's major cities were also more likely to have gambled in the past week. 2% of players reported gambling "pretty much daily." But, 19% of respondents said they should reduce their gambling activities due to rising living costs. Of those who didn't gamble, about 29% stated never winning as the main reason, while 14% stated they were tired of playing, and 11% said there were too many gambling advertisements around. Lotteries were found to be the most popular form of gambling, followed by horseracing and online bingo.
Online Casino gaming, poker, and slot machines attracted a small minority of gamblers, all with 5% or less. While only 2% of Swedes felt they had gambled too much in the past year, about 6% knew someone who had done so. However, less than 1% of respondents said they had sought help for gambling-related harm.
Sweden's Efforts to "Combat" Unlicensed/Regulated Online Gambling Operators
Unlicensed gambling has been a big issue in Sweden over the last two years, with the Swedish government constantly working on a bill to introduce permits for online gambling operators. Gustaf Hoffstedt, the secretary-general of the Swedish trade association Branscheförenigen för Onlinespel (BOS), expressed his support for the roadmap but voiced concerns that the government's expectations for its effectiveness in directing players to a licensed operator may be too expensive to maintain.
