Swedish Gaming Authority Calls on All Resources to Fix the New Market
Published January 9, 2020 by Lee R
Sweden may have started roughly, but the Gaming Authority is putting on a full court press on for a smooth 2020.
Sweden has published more details of its proactive strategy to improve illegal gambling activity prevention.
Preventative Effort
Swedish Gaming Authority (Spelinspektionen) plans to ramp up preventative efforts against illegal operators to address the prevalent unlicensed activity which is proving to have serious consequences for both players and the state.
Lead Concern
The main concern is the discrepancy between the standards of player protection offered between legal and illegal licensees, with the implication that the state stands to lose out on additional tax revenue if the issues remain unresolved.
Streamlining Legal Framework
To this end, Spelinspektionen is prepared to prioritise measures channeling gambling most decisively towards legal options in Sweden.
Criteria for Marketing
The criteria for determining brands actively targeting Swedish players consists of developing criteria for assessing each potential breach, which requires Spelinspektionen to confirm on a case-by-case basis whether businesses offer deposits, withdrawals and winnings in Swedish Kronor, and if the website terms and conditions are in Swedish and compliantly adapted to customers in that country.
The Swedish Gaming Authority will further examine if the customer service number contains a Swedish country code, as well as whether the operator or its affiliates are marketing directly to Swedish consumers.
Fighting Unlicensed Operators
Spelinspektionen explained that operators illegally targeting Swedish consumers are most often based in other countries outside the European Union:
“There is no simple solution or any tool that can directly exclude these illegal gaming operators from the Swedish market,” the organisation explained in a statement. “There are several stakeholders who can take steps to limit the opportunity and incentives to conduct illegal gambling in Sweden,” with Spelinspektionen committed to prioritising “collaboration with these bodies.”
All Hands on Deck
Spelinspektionen intends to additionally enlist the assistance of Swedish police and prosecutors, the Swedish Consumer Authority and the Financial Supervisory Authority, while further engaging with regulators in other jurisdictions with prominent iGaming models such as the Malta Gaming Authority and the Gambling Division of the Gibraltar Ministry of Commerce.
Community Effort
Spelinspektionen has also called on current licensed operators and suppliers to help push unlicensed operators from the market through withholding common services such as payment processing services or gaming content while flagging unlicensed activity.
Outlook
The community effort approach in Sweden looks like the path to effective stabilization.
