Sweden's New Gaming Market Officially Begins

The dawning of January 1st and the arrival of 2019 marked the hour of the official re-launch of the Swedish online gambling market and implementation of a completely new set of regulatory framework rules that operators will have to abide by...

...Also, this means that the re-regulated market is open for business once more, with a whole bunch of international operators and companies now becoming a part of the country's gaming scene, having been licensed by official gambling regulator – now named Spelinspektionen (formerly known as Lotteriinspektionen).

Last-Minute Licensees

In total, over sixty different brands have obtained various licenses (online, sports betting etc.) with some making it in 2018's dying hours! White Hat has obtained an online gaming license for its 24 white label domains for 3rd party partners, such as 21casino, 666casino, Spinrider, Dreamjackpot and more.

A bingo license was secured for AhaWorld's AhaBingo site. The brand Hero has acquired online gambling and sports betting license for Speedycasino, Betser, Casinoheroes...

In late December, esteemed industry names such as Paf, Gaming Innovation Group and Paddy Power were also successful in their endeavor of getting the much sought-after Swedish license.

Microgaming is Locked and Loaded

Renowned Malta-based casino software provider, Microgaming, is among the names given permission to conduct business in the Scandinavian country. They will operate here with their regional partners such as bwin, PokerStars, Bet365 , LeoVegas , unibet, Betsson and ComeOn by Cherry.

Their chief operating officer Andrew Clucas comments:

“This move continues our strategic expansion in key regulated markets, working closely with regulators and supporting operators as they grow their offering with our diverse portfolio of content built with player protection in mind.”

Already live with their brand of online casino entertainment is GVC Holdings, who have rolled out its PartyPoker website...

...as well as a Swedish bwin site which will offer pre-play and in-play sports betting availability, aside from a wide array of table games.

GVC's chief operating officer Shay Segev said that, “launching two new labels in such a short space of time after receiving our licence, demonstrates the flexibility of our unique proprietary technology platform.”

A Most Anticipated Event

The beginning of a newly regulated gaming scene is Sweden will prompt a huge sigh of relief from gaming and state officials and operators alike – the situation in the country so far has become borderline unbearable, with outdated regulations creating all sorts of loopholes for unlicensed, predatory operators to capitalize on.

The new regulation introduces the 18% gross gaming revenue tax and officially legalizes online gambling.

Source:

“Swedish iGaming market opens for business”, igamingbusiness.com, January 2, 2019.