Operators Largely Unfamiliar With Finer Points of Swedish Regulations, Report Shows

A criticism of Swedish Gambling Authority's (Spelinspektionen) penchant to act way too quickly and fine operators was published in recent report that points to some enforcement mistakes by the regulator. The report concludes that numerous online gaming licensees in Sweden are simply not accustomed to the way regulator works.

In their defense, Spelinspektionen says that licensees are not used to markets being so strictly managed and that this is the reason why so many sanctions against them have happened during this year.

Question of Cultural Accommodation

They have admitted that this could be, in part, due to problems of linguistic barriers. They also said that in Sweden it is quite foreign to regulators to come to terms with wrongdoers...

...which is a regular practice in some other jurisdictions and under certain other regulators. They also deny that any of their regulations were not clear enough. This argument has been used by operators as their way of coping for their own non-compliance and for trying to divert the reality.

“Spelinspektionen notes that in many cases the gaming companies cite ambiguities in the new regulations as grounds for violations. In its inspections so far, [these violations] have not been the result of unclear rules. On the contrary, the infringements have been serious and clear,” said the regulator's note of defense.

A Counter Claim

Swedish authorities also claim that operators were expecting to find similar regulations’ approach to that in other countries, and that on this ground, any misinterpretation of regulations can be dismissed as bogus.

Until August 30th, Spelinspektionen has had 41 regulatory actions. 28 of these have ended, while 13 are still pending.

These 28 that have been completed consist of 19 warnings and fines (18 of which have been appealed against). Twelve of these were in relation to sports betting, in which cases operators were offering services featuring underage players. This particular violation was featured on numerous occasions.

Six of these violations have been in ties with bonus offers – in Sweden, all operators can offer only one bonus to players, on their registration. Four of these were for restaurant casinos and each got a written warning. Swedish regulator also found some licensees that have not integrated their database with Spelpaus, country's self-exclusion system.

The so-called “shadow lotteries” were also a part of the problem...

...as was money laundering, in the event of which Global Gaming even lost their license.

More Licenses Might be Revoked

With that said, it is Spelinspektionen’s collective opinion that more licenses may be taken from operators as investigations into wrongdoings probe even further into the matter. “If a gaming company commits more serious violations, it could be that the company can no longer be considered suitable to hold a licence, which as a result should be revoked.”

As said before, there are currently 13 ongoing cases – two of these could unveil an issue with anti-money laundering regulation disobeying, four are related to betting on events with underage players, three are regarding restaurant casinos, while one concerns poor integration, or lack thereof, with Spelpaus and sponsorship deals.

In the second quarter of the year, operators in Sweden have generated a net revenue of $630 million. This number was crunched by Swedish Tax Authority.

Source:

“Operators 'unaccustomed' to Swedish regulatory model”, igamingbusiness.com, August 30, 2019.