New Measures by Swedish Government to Ensure a Safe Gambling Market

The Swedish government has submitted a report to Sweden’s Law Council (Lagrådet) with proposals, whose objective is to exclude illegal players from the Swedish gambling market and counteract the manipulation of results in sports or the so-called match-fixing. The new measures should be introduced in Swedish law before 1st July 2023.

 

On 17th May 2022, the Swedish government presented a proposal with a number of new measures to the Swedish parliament focusing on ensuring strong consumer protections and a gambling market that is sustainable in the long term. Sweden’s Minister of Social Security Ardalan Shekarabi has embraced the proposal and commented: “We are now taking another step to ensure a healthy and safe gaming market.”

 

Part of the included measures’ goal is to ban unlicensed gambling from the Swedish gambling market. It is suggested that the Swedish Gambling Act of 2018 should provide an option for the government to decree regulations on payment service providers’ obligation to provide information used in payment intermediation for unlicensed gambling and that the current provisions on payment blocking shall be abolished. An opportunity is also proposed for the Swedish Gambling Authority to purchase gaming services online under a hidden identity or a so-called test purchase.

This means that the sluggish mechanism to block payments will be discarded and it will be easier for the Swedish Gambling Authority to execute payment blocks. Furthermore, under the new measures, the Swedish Gambling Authority will be able to investigate payment service providers in Sweden that are not abiding by the Payment Services Act when they are processing payments in connection with gambling.

 

The other focus of the proposed measures is on preventing match-fixing. Increased opportunities are being put forward so that licensees and sports federations can process personal data in order to uncover match-fixing. It is also suggested that licensees should be obliged to provide, at the request of the Police, all necessary information when the investigation is underway into crimes in connection with gambling games.

The Swedish Gambling Authority is responsible for the supervision of all gambling and lottery activities in Sweden and ensures the safety, reliability, and lawfulness of the gambling market in the country.  The Swedish Gambling Authority reports to Sweden’s Ministry of Finance, while the Swedish government is responsible for appointing its board.

Swedish finance authority fines Trustly SEK130m for AML failings

An investigation led by Finansinspektionen found that Trustly had not complied with the authority’s regulations or Sweden’s Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act (Anti-Money Laundering Act).

Shortcomings were identified in the areas of risk assessment, procedures and guidelines, customer due diligence and monitoring and reporting.

The investigation revealed that Trustly had failed to include a “large portion” of its customers in anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing measures, violating the Anti-Money Laundering Act.

Trustly had not carried out a risk assessment on these customers, it said, nor had the payment provider considered them in terms of its procedures and guidelines. These customers have also not been monitored in general.

Trustly was also found to have violated Finansinspektionen’s own anti-money laundering regulations when it came to transaction monitoring, while many of the above Anti-Money Laundering Act failings were also classed as violations of Finansinspektionen’ rules.

Finansinspektionen described Trustly as being in an “industry associated with a high risk of money laundering and terrorist financing”, in which it acted in a position “that can almost be described as a hub” between banks and gambling operators.

Finansinspektionen decided that the violations of the Anti-Money Laundering Act and the authority’s own regulations needed to be dealt with separately.

It ruled that the Anti-Money Laundering Act infringements were not as serious as the infringements of the authority’s own money laundering regulations, and a warning is sufficient for these.

For the violation of its rules, however, it was handed a SEK130m fine, accompanied by a warning.

“Trustly’s role in the payment chain between the gambling industry and a large number of banks makes it possible for the company to see flows that are not available to other market participants,” said Erik Thedéen, director general of Finansinspektionen.

“A company that has chosen fast and simple as its business concept in the gambling industry needs to be very thorough in its work to prevent money laundering. We have identified in our investigation that this has not been the case.”

The fine comes days after Trustly announced that it would lay off 120 employees as part of restructuring efforts. It did not detail how many of these layoffs would affect its gaming division.

Most of the affected employees, however, are based its Stockholm office. Speaking to iGB, a spokesperson stated that Trustly was “reducing structural complexities” in its refocusing of geographical reach and product offerings.

Swedish government set to re-introduce stricter gaming regulations

he Swedish government have announced a return to some of the of tighter gaming regulations implemented as a consequence of the first wave of the COVID pandemic. A move that native regulator, Spelinspektionen, has readily endorsed.

Rising Omicron infections continue to present challenges to the global gambling industry. A combination of stringent travel stipulations and government sensitivity towards increased betting activity, have both conspired to become tricky obstacles to navigate in recent months.

When the pandemic initially arrived on Scandinavian shores, Sweden moved to increase limits on play time, and curtail the volume of bonuses offered by operators. Furthermore, maximum deposit levels were held at 5,000 Krona (U.S $496) per week, a component that will be further tightened to 4,000 Krona (U.S $444) in the latest round of restrictions. However, the play time and bonus approach will be simply re-installed as opposed to being subjected to further control.

The new rules, which are set to commence from 7th February and continue to at least 30th June, have been sponsored heavily by the Minister for Health & Social Affairs, ArdalanShekarbi. Although Shekarbi believes increased regulation is required, there is currently no clear mandate to support this decision. The review into Sweden’s public gaming activity, initiated on the minister’s orders, is yet to be concluded. Moreover, it’s likely findings will not even be ready prior to the February re-launch.

This is a development that the Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling (BOS) have actively challenged in recent days. Apart from the apparent lack of evidence for increased regulation, BOS suggest that these sorts of measures often drive punters to offshore offerings. GustaffHoffstedt, the General Secretary of BOS, has also stated that the number of gaming operators used per player, on average, significantly increased when deposit limits were initially introduced.

For the time being at least, Sweden looks set to revert back to tighter regulation in the wake of recent COVID upsurges.

Lotteriinspektionen publishes first licences for re-regulated Swedish market

Swedish gambling regulator – Lotteriinspektionen has this morning announced its first sixteen approved operators, which will be allowed to service Sweden’s re-regulated online gambling marketplace from 1 January 2019.

As anticipated, established Stockholm-listed enterprises’ Kindred Group Plc, Betsson AB and LeoVegas AB feature on Lotteriinspektionen approved list.

In a statement released this morning, Kindred Group confirmed that it had secured approval to operate the following domains; unibet.se, mariacasino.se, storspelare.se, bingo.se, igame.se

“Today is a historic day for Kindred. We have been pushing for a modern and sustainable gambling market in Sweden from the very start of Unibet in 1997, in which the focus is on consumer protection and harm minimisation”, commented Henrik Tjärnström, Group CEO of Kindred Plc

Meanwhile, Stockholm incumbent Betsson AB has moved to confirm that it will operate three brands, consisting of flagship Betsson and NordicBet (Sportsbook) and SverigeAutomaten (slots) establishing its new home market profile.

“It is good that Sweden opens up the gaming market for free competition in a controlled environment. We look forward to operating on our Swedish home market as a recognised operator on equal terms,” added Betsson CEO Pontus Lindwall.

State-owned gambling asset – Svenska Spel has been approved services for betting, lotteries and online casino is accompanied by national racing firm AB TRAV operating its atg.se domain.

European incumbents are represented by German bookmaker Interwetten Sports, alongside GVC Holdings’ bwin and partygaming (poker + bingo) domains securing licenses.

In addition, the first set of licensee instalments, feature a UK presence with leading online bookmaker bet365 securing its Lotteriinspektionen approval from sportsbook and gaming, joined by Sunderland online gaming group Tombola (bingo/games).

This November, Lotteriinspektionen executives provided a public stakeholder update, detailing the changes the regulatory body expects to undertake once Sweden’s re-regulated gambling framework is established.

Changes for Lotteriinspektionen include a rebrand to Spelinspektionen (translation – ‘The Gambling Inspectorate’), with the regulator expecting to increase its resources and capacities significantly.

“This is a historic day. I am very proud that the Lotteriinspektionen’s staff under severe pressure, with a whole new legislation, worked out the first license decisions,” said Camilla Rosenberg, director general of the Lotteriinspektionen.

Unibet signs €172 million title sponsorship with Swedish football

Set to commence on January 1st 2020, the 12-year agreement is valued at SEK1.8bn (€172m) and sees Unibet replace state-owned operator Svenska Spel as lead sponsor of the leagues.

The partnership was agreed with the Swedish Elite Football Association (Svensk Elitfotboll), and runs through to 2026 with an option to extend the agreement for an additional six years.

“We have only good things to say about co-operation over the years together with Svenska Spel and we are very grateful for all that Svenska Spel has done for elite football,” said Mats Enquist, secretary general of Svensk Elitfotboll. “We are also looking forward to completing the current contract period in the best way together.

“When Svenska Spel chose not to renew the agreement on acceptable terms, we had to look around at the market. We are excited that we could find this solution with Unibet and we are looking forward to the joint cooperation.”

Kindred Group general manager for Sweden, Dersim Sylwan, commented: “We are very proud to have made this historic agreement with Svensk Elitfotboll. The deal includes a significant long-term commitment to Swedish sports, an opportunity we have been fighting for during the last 20 years. We are very pleased to announce the partnership and we look forward to contributing to the development of Swedish football.”

The sponsorship agreement will see SEK150m distributed annually to Svensk Elitfotboll, with SEK100m allocated to Allsvenskan and Superettan clubs, SEK25m to talent development and integrity work, and a further SEK20m to clubs based on the wishes of Unibet customers. A further SEK5m has been earmarked for a special initiative focused on European tournaments.

“Our new agreement with Svensk Elitfotboll will give the association substantially more income compared to previous partnership deals,” added Sylwan. “The new gaming licence will finally make it possible for Swedish sports to gain market value for their partnerships, which is positive for the clubs, the associations and of course for the athletes.”

Svensk Elitfotboll chairman Lars-Christer Olsson added: “In Kindred Group, Svensk Elitfotboll sees a new serious partner who, together with us, can take responsibility for the healthy development of games in our leagues while supporting elite football development in Sweden.”

Sweden’s regulated online market growing faster than international operators

Sweden’s regulated online gambling market grew faster than international Swedish-facing operators last year, according to the country’s gambling regulator.

Preliminary stats for 2015 released by Sweden’s Lotteriinspektionen gaming overseer said the regulated market boasted turnover of SEK 45.6b ($5.3b), up 1.5% from 2014’s total. Total gaming revenue was also up 1.5% to SEK 16.7b.

Total online gambling revenue last year came to around SEK 8b, up around 7% from 2014. Lotteriinspektionen estimates that international operators serving the market without a Swedish license – mainly because Sweden doesn’t currently issue licenses to bloody foreigners – claimed around SEK 4.4b of this sum.

The international operators’ share eclipsed the SEK 3.6b collected by the state-owned betting monopoly Svenska Spel, but the monopoly’s share was up 8% year-on-year while the international sites grew only 6%.

Gambling advertising expenditure came to around SEK 3.3b, with roughly 70% of this being spent by those pesky international operators, despite the government’s vocal protestations. The total advertising spend is actually down from 2014, which the regulator attributes to last year’s lack of a marquee football competition.

On average, Swedish households spent around 2.4% of their disposable income on regulated gambling products last year, a sum equal to about SEK5,822 ($685) per person. The average Swedish adult lost around SEK 2,133 to the regulated market, while the average loss to international online gambling operators was a mere SEK 447 per adult.

Sweden is in the process of revising its online gambling market, prompted by years of public scolding and threats of legal action by European Commission watchdogs. New draft legislation is expected early next year, followed by a period of stakeholder comment and a final draft presented to legislators for consideration by the end of 2017.

The new regime is expected to call for the privatization of Svenska Spel, the issuing of licenses to international operators and more aggressive steps to prevent online operators not holding a Swedish license from accessing the market. Last month, a leading Swedish internet service provider went public with government plans to compel ISPs to block Swedes from accessing unauthorized sites.

Football player murdered in Södertälje shooting

Eddie Moussa, a player with Swedish second division football club Assyriska was one of the two men shot dead in a gambling club in Södertälje near Stockholm on Wednesday night, according to a statement on the club's webpage.

The Superettan club was due to play an away match against Ängelholms FF this evening but the match has been cancelled, according to a statement on the Swedish Football Association homepage.

Police are continuing their search for three men seen leaving the premises by moped shortly after the shooting which, according to a report in the Aftonbladet daily, could have been an criminal underworld hit.

"It occurred in the Ronna shopping precinct, in Café Oasen," said Johan Sjöholm at Södertälje police to news agency TT on Thursday morning.

The premises where the men were shot is a known gambling club.

"With regards to gambling clubs problems emerge from time to time. It can't be ruled out that the shooting concerns gambling debts," said Björn Engström at Stockholm police.

Police received a call over the shooting at around 2.20am on Thursday morning. Police officers from across the county have been called in to assist the search for the three men.

According to witnesses three men came into the premises and began shooting, according to Mari Olofsson at Stockholm county police.

Police believe the perpetrators left the scene by moped, but witness testimony is unclear on this point. The moped was later found in the area, after having been set alight.

"We are going through all the information now, we shall then decide which direction to take the investigation. The victims have to be identified and relatives informed," Engström said.

The condition of the third victim, who is being cared for at Södertälje hospital, is reported by the police to be stable.

Eddie Moussa is a Swedish and Dominican citizen of Lebanese-Assyrian extraction. He played his debut for Assyriska FF, a club which played one season in Sweden's Allsvenskan top-flight after winning promotion in 2004.

The club, which was founded only in 1974, has a large following in Södertälje and is considered by many to be a substitute national team for the Assyrian people.

PartyGaming to launch Foxy in Sweden with Virtue Fusion

PartyGaming is to launch its Foxy Bingo brand in Sweden, and has chosen Virtue Fusion to supply its bingo software.

Foxy joined PartyGaming in July when Party acquired UK bingo company and Foxy-owner Cashcade for a push into bingo in Europe.

Virtue Fusion’s Alderney-based bingo network boasts an average of 30,000 players a day, driving more than €100m ($137m, £88m) in total stakes each month, while other clients include Bet365, Crown, Gala, Ladbrokes, Mecca/Blue Square, Paddy Power, William Hill, Sky and Virgin.

PartyGaming’s bingo overseas marketing and business development manager Michael Brady said: “Virtue Fusion Alderney’s fantastic liquidity, combined with the rich quality of their online bingo provision is the big attraction for us.”

The plan to launch FoxyBingo.Se marks the company’s second foray into Scandinavia in weeks, after PartyGaming signed an exclusive five-year business-to-business (B2B) deal with Danish state lottery Danske Spil in January, one of the largest betting and gaming organisations in Europe with DKK10,955m (£1.32bn) of turnover and a customer base of more than 500,000 registered online customers.

Its expertise in the region was also boosted recently with PartyGaming’s hire of Per Widerström, the Swedish former chief executive of Swedish operator Expekt, to a newly created role of chief operating officer (COO) last week, just a month after Widerstrom left Expekt after difference of strategic vision with new owners, the Mangas Group in December.

Betsson Says Swedish Authorities Gambling with Taxpayers Money

Betsson has warned Swedish gaming authorities that they risk a claim for damages from the company, after the County Administrative Court of Södermanland rejected Betsson’s appeal of an injunction against its Swedish retail outlet, Shopsson.

The company said that it would appeal against the County Administrative Court’s ruling regarding the betting shop to the Administrative Court of Appeal, as it believes the shop complies with EC-law.

The shop in Stockholm has been in operation for six months and became the subject of enforcement action by the country’s Lottery Inspection for promoting the activities of Betsson.com, an entity classified as an illegal gambling provider under Swedish gaming law.

In July of this year the Lottery Inspection imposed a fine of SEK2.5 million on Shopsson to force it to end its advertising of Betsson.com.

In its ruling of November 7th, the County Administrative Court rejected both Betsson’s appeal of the Lottery Inspection’s injunction and the request to obtain a preliminary ruling from the European Court of Justice. The ruling flies in the face of earlier decisions by Swedish prosecutors and public courts, including the Supreme Court and Svea High Court, which have found that the Lottery Act may be incompatible with European law.

Betsson maintains that the shop is compliant with European law and has therefore decided to appeal the ruling to the Administrative Court of Appeal.

“We have to appeal given the juridical situation,” said Betsson CEO Pontus Lindwall. “As the state now risks a claim for damages, the Lottery Inspection and the County Administrative Court are gambling with taxpayer’s money.

“Since we are pleased with the outcome of the shop we have no intention to shut it down. In addition to placed bets, which have continuously increased during the autumn, the shop gives us a possibility to meet with our customers and give them a unique service. We already have a number of regular customers who appreciate the possibility to place bets with better odds in a physical environment,” added Lindwall.

Shares in Betsson AB (STO:BETS-B) are trading up 1.66% in Stockholm this morning at SEK61.25.

Sweden will propose sports betting legislation in December

The head of the Swedish inquiry commission on gambling (Spelutredningen) has confirmed that it will propose a licensing system for foreign sports betting operators when it reports its findings to the Swedish government this December.

Jan Nyren confirmed this to Swedish media yesterday and said casino and slot games would not be licensed under the proposals as they presented more risk of problem gambling, while no decision had yet been taken regarding online poker and other gaming products.

The legislative move is seen as a way for Sweden to avoid further actions form the European Court of Justice, which has already sent reasoned opinions and threatened it with infringement proceedings.

Peter Alling, one of the secretaries of the inquiry commission, added: “Sports betting licensing will be proposed to the government and gaming (poker and other games) remains open to further investigation. We haven’t decided on what the tax rate will be (for the sports betting companies); whether it will be on total turnover or on their gross gaming revenues.”

Alling added that the commission’s duty was to find a system that allowed operators to work in a well-balanced environment. He said: “The task given to the inquiry is to create a legislation that will stand in the long run, but of course, with the constantly-changing system, such a consistent system must have a built-in flexibility. So there will be a system, but it will have the possibility to change should it need to.”

Alling said he was confident the commission would come up with a proposal that would work for all parties and praised the attitude of the private operators. “They have been very collaborative, we have met many of them over the past year and they have been very helpful in setting out their vision for the future of the market and what their needs are. We have learnt a great deal from them and the input has been very constructive on both sides,” he said.

Sweden stalls as Svenska Spel sell-off discussed

Petter Nylander, chief executive of Unibet, has described the news of a partial privatisation of the Swedish gaming monopoly Svenska Spel as a strategy by the Swedish government to make sure it is not asked to appear in front the European Court of Justice.

Sweden is currently subject to reasoned opinions from the European Commission and Nylander said the pressure from the European authorities was starting to show.

“The legal advice to the Swedish Ministry of Finance is that the country is very close to breaking EU rules on the provision of cross-border services and is getting closer to being asked to appear in front of the European Court of Justice. The first investigation into gambling was cancelled and the latest gaming inquiry is due to submit its findings in mid-December,” Nylander said.

Reports in the Swedish media appeared yesterday suggesting that games that are considered less likely to lead to gambling addiction might be sold off. However, Nylander said the inquiry commission had still not defined what those games were. “They originally included lottery games and are now looking at including sports betting and poker (as being low risk), which Svenska Spel has been very successful at recently. Overall though, they have not truly defined what they consider to be harmful or not,” he said.

Nylander added that market forces were dictating the pace of change in the European online gaming space, which when added to the regulatory pressure brought on by the European Commission, was forcing protectionist countries such as Sweden to adopt a range of measures that were ill-conceived.

The Swedish Minister for Finance Anders Borg recently commented that the question to consider was whether Svenska Spel should continue to operate less harmful games or if other operators should be allowed to offer them to players.

The news follows a report published in early May by the Swedish Moderate Party’s Culture Committee that said the Svenska Spel monopoly should be abolished. A licensing system for online operators would raise enough revenue to make up for any loss of income brought on by the end of the monopoly, the report said.

Svenska Spel barred from expanding net poker

Sweden's state-owned gambling monopoly, Svenska Spel, has been forbidden from expanding its net-poker services - for the time being at least.

On Thursday, the Swedish government rejected Svenska Spel's request to expand its existing licence to organize and distribute net-poker services.

Instead, the government asked Svenska Spel to devote more time to an internal, ongoing investigation into the existing licence, which is now due on June 30th 2008. Until the results are in from that investigation, the government will not allow the company to expand its net-poker services.

The government emphasized that Svenska Spel must consider the social effects of gambling, before profits.

Svenska Spel reaped a profit of nearly 1.4 billion kronor ($215 million) in the third quarter, as reported by The Local in October. Svenska Spel controls 35 percent of the Swedish market, as internet gambling including poker is growing rapildy. Overall profits for the first three quarters were more than 4 billion kronor, up 19 percent compared to 2006.

In Brief

All Bets Are Off For NFL’s London Debut

In a move that further highlights the National Football League’s vehement and influential opposition to gambling, organisers of Sunday evening’s game between the Miami Dolphins and the New York Giants consented to the NFL’s request that all Betfred’s betting facilities inside Wembley Stadium were closed for the event.


Ruling Party Votes To End Swedish Gambling Monopoly

Moderate Party members voted at their congress last weekend in favour of a proposal to liberalise the country’s gambling market but the Swedish Government still advocates taking a more cautious approach towards regulation.