Sweden regulator unveils strategy for fighting int’l gambling rogues

sweden-online-gambling-awareness-campaign-spelinspektionen

sweden-online-gambling-awareness-campaign-spelinspektionenSweden’s gambling regulator is ratcheting up its fight against internationally licensed online operators that continue to serve local customers.

Last Friday, the Spelinspektionen gambling regulatory body announced a new “broad nationwide campaign” to educate Swedes as to which online gambling sites are operating in the country with the regulator’s approval. The goal is to increase the number of Swedish gamblers ‘channeled’ toward locally licensed operators following the regulated online market’s launch in January.

Spelinspektionen chief Anders Sims said the SEK2.5m (US$267k) campaign – which will run across print, digital and outdoor channels – is intended to help Swedish gamblers “choose companies with a Swedish license.”

Friday also saw Spelinspektionen reveal its new strategy for determining which unauthorized online operators may be liable for punitive measures. The criteria for getting on Tomten’s naughty list include offering a Swedish-language option, allowing payments in Swedish currency, offering phone services that uses a Swedish country code, and whether the site or its affiliate partners directly market to Swedish residents.

Spelinspektionen says it will rely on assistance from gambling regulators in other markets, with which Sweden’s regulator has already signed cooperation agreements, to put pressure on online operators who ignore Spelinspektionen’s warnings. Payment processors and third-party game developers will also be asked not to assist these international rogues.

Operators approved for online gambling in Sweden have been warned that their licenses only apply to specific domains, and that other sites/brands within a group can’t piggyback on those licenses. Failure to abide by these limits could result in suspension and/or revocation of Swedish licenses.

ATG NOT A-OK WITH SPELINSPEKTIONEN
Speaking of, Sweden’s former horseracing betting monopoly AB Trav Och Galopp (ATG) has been issued a warning for allowing unauthorized bookmakers to set up betting terminals at two racetracks this summer.

ATG reportedly submitted applications to allow the betting agents to operate but Spelinspektionen had yet to improve these applications before the agents began taking wagers at the tracks. ATG blamed ‘human error’ for the mix-up.

Spelinspektionen decided to let ATG off with a warning, noting that the operator had come forward on its own to confess its crimes and that the agents were only in operation for a short period.