Swedish Gambling Authority Review

Name: Swedish Gambling Authority - Jurisdiction Review
Item: Swedish Gambling Authority - Jurisdiction
Rating: 8
Author: Casinomeister

By Alex Smith Mar 6, 2024

Casinomeister's Verdict

New regulators are sometimes hard to judge. They may have inspiring aspirations, but their capabilities and player support is untested. Nevertheless, on face value they seem to be on the right track. The next year or two will be interesting to observe how they handle complex player complaints.

The Swedish Gambling authority offers complete oversight of their member casinos including the enforcement of “Know your Customer” and Responsible Gambling procedures.

Take a ‘player-first’ approach to regulation.

8 Our Rating

Oversight

Responsiveness

Transparency

Infrastructure

History

Reliability

Jurisdiction Swedish Gambling Authority

Founded 2018

Website https://www.spelinspektionen.se/en/

E-mail registrator@spelinspektionen.se

Address P.O.Box 199, 645 23 Strängnäs

Reliability Highest

Pros

Have a firm stance on responsible gambling
Appear to have strict regulations in place to prevent rogue operators
Take a ‘player-first’ approach to regulation

Cons

Still a very new regulator, so haven’t had time to showcase their good and bad side

The Swedish Gambling Authority is a new regulatory body in charge of regulating gambling throughout Sweden – and the Authority issues permits and licenses for operators running gambling businesses and lotteries.

While still a relatively new and unheard of regulator, the Authority has already been quick to announce a radical selection of measures to protect players in Sweden from rogue operations – and in this review, we’re going to be having a look at the authority in depth, including looking at their background, and some of the license privisons.

About The Swedish Gambling Authority

The Swedish Gambling Authority – in their own words – is ‘responsible for ensuring that the Swedish gaming and gambling market is legal, safe, and reliable.’ They issue operators with gambling permits and licenses for all types of gambling activities in Sweden, and the Authority is controlled by the MInistry of Finance. Its board is appointed directly by the Government.

The Authority carries out a number of duties, including:

Providing consumers with resources and tools necessary to maintain a transparent and balanced gambling market, while also working hard to minimize the risk of negative social effects from which gambling may cause.
Working to ensure the gambling market in Sweden is both sound, and safe.
Working with relevant law enforcement bodies to reduce the number of illegal gambling and lottery businesses.
Granting permits for national lotteries, gambling machines, restaurant casinos, and – in some cases – bingo permits.
Taking overall responsibility for compliance and supervision of gambling and lottery operations.
Providing training and information to operators, surrounding gambling and lottery legislation.
Provide regular updates to the Swedish government about developments within both local and global gaming markets.

The Swedish Gambling Authority’s website gives a clear overview as to how they go about regulating the online gambling market:

“About 70 people work at the Swedish Gambling Authority, which is located in Strängnäs. We have expertise within law, economics, IT, as well as other fields.

A board appointed by the government manages and holds full responsibility for the Authority. The Director General, Camilla Rosenberg, is a member of the board. The Board makes decisions on overall matters such as responses to referrals, reports, regulations, decisions on guidelines and some important decisions on new lotteries and gambling services.

The Swedish Gambling Authority consists of four departments: The

Operational Department – licensing and compliance, Administrative Department, Legal Affairs Department and Communications Department.

In addition to this, there is a special function by the name of Social Consideration and Risk Minimization, which works strategically as well as long-term with issues concerning the risks associated with gambling.

We also have fee-paid inspectors who are active throughout the country. There is always at least one inspector involved at the drawing of the lotteries to ensure that everything is conducted correctly. Our inspectors visit different gambling locations to ensure that all gambling is conducted as it should be and that no illegal gambling is taking place.”

Provisions of a License

At the time of writing, online gambling is still currently not allowed in Sweden – but this is set to change early in 2019, and it’s somewhat vague as to what the exact rules and regulations surrounding online license holders will entail.

Still, some operators have hinted at what some of the regulations include, and we’ll look at these below.

As with all online gambling regulators, the Swedish Gambling Authority requires that all operators provide players with a suitable range of responsible gambling tools. They state:

‘A gambling operator that has been granted a license must protect players from excessive gambling, duty of care. This should include monitoring behaviors and, as necessary, helping players to limit their gambling.’

A notable requirement that operators will need to follow surrounds bonuses. Unlike other jurisdictions, the Swedish Gambling Authority only allows casinos to offer bonuses to players on the first gambling occasion. This means that players will only be able to claim a bonus the first time they play at a casino.

License holders are also all linked to a self-exclusion database, and players – via the gambling authority – will be able to exclude themselves from all online gambling websites, much like we’ve seen implemented in the UK with GAMSTOP.

There are also a range of other measures in place, including the creation of a new criminal offense – cheating at gambling – which primarily aims to deter match-fixing, and marketing materials released by casinos and other online gambling operators must be ‘moderate’ and not specifically targeted at people/players under the age of 18. Adverts must also not be sent to those who have excluded themselves from gambling.

Anti-Money Laundering Rules

The Swedish Gambling Authority, like most countries in the European Union, has incredibly strict anti-money laundering rules and regulations that all online casinos must follow, and any license holder must have a robust selection of internal procedures for anti-money laundering and terrorist financing measures. All gambling companies with an online gambling license from the Swedish Gambling Authority must, under the Swedish Gambling Act, carry out in-depth customer due diligence measures that are designed to flag up any potentially suspicious characters.

For example, a license holder must identify who the customer is; this includes asking for their full name, residential address, date of birth, and any other information that can be used to verify the identity of such a player. Unlike many other EU countries, the Swedish Gambling Authority does allow online gambling companies to verify a player’s ID through the use of an e-ID – but this is only available for those who are deemed to pose a ‘low risk’. Like the UKGC, many have accused the Swedish Gambling Authority of taking things too far – and this particular clause from their anti-money laundering page is likely to worry some Swedes:

The Swedish Gambling Authority considers that it would generally be beneficial if license holders asked more questions when registering new customers. License holders’ questions should focus on the origin of future deposits, and through such questions, license holders get to know their customers better already when onboarding. This makes it easier to then track and risk-classify customers. Deposit limits should be taken into account and form the basis for customers’ risk rating.

High deposit limits may indicate that a customer intends and has the ability to make large deposits during short periods of time. Examples of questions that can be asked when registering a new customer:

Where does the money to be used for gambling come from?
What was your taxable income last year?/Where does your income come from?

Many players find these questions to be incredibly intrusive – and it’s no surprise that the Swedish Gambling Authority’s rules – and interpretations of the Swedish Gambling Act – has caused many players in the country to turn to the illegal gambling market.

Bans and Regulations on Specific Types of Betting

The Swedish Gambling Authority has made some pretty controversial moves when it comes to outright banning certain types of bet – and in a relatively recent report they announced that betting would no longer be allowed to be offered on sanctions for violations of the rules within a sporting event – and this means you’re not allowed to bet on a red or yellow card, a free throw, a penalty kick, a sending off – anything that breaks the rules of the game. It’s also illegal for online gambling operators to offer betting markets on those under the age of 18 – which does somewhat make sense, in fairness.

There’s also some quite controversial football rules, which means betting may only be offered on:

the four highest league levels in the Swedish league system
matches between teams at international club level where the teams are included in one of the four highest league levels in each country
matches in the Swedish Cup where the teams are included in one of the four highest league levels in the Swedish league system, and
matches involving national teams from U21 level up to the full national team. Betting may not be offered on training or friendly matches other than in cases involving national teams from U21 level up to the full national team.

It should also be noted that the Swedish Gambling Authority is pretty hot when it comes to match fixing – and all online gambling licensees are required, once a year, to submit a report to the Swedish Gambling Authority with any potential evidence of match fixing – including information about those who may have placed bets on the outcome of suspected match fixed.

Interesting Facts about the Swedish Gambling Market

While the Swedish Gambling Authority is responsible for regulating all forms of online gambling in Sweden – including uploading gambling laws – the Swedish gambling industry (the Swedish Gambling Authority) also works in partnership with data collection agencies to collect information, and below we’re going to walk you through some of the interesting points from this year’s findings.

First of all, the Swedish Gambling Authority has, so far, issued more than 100 online gambling licenses to online gambling operators; this does not include licenses that were issued to non-profit organizations. In 2020, the Swedish gambling market was worth a total gross revenue of a whopping SEK 24,7 billion – and online gambling and gambling in land-based casinos accounts for 1% of all disposable income of Swedes.

According to one recent study, 66% of Swedes told researchers that they had placed a bet in the last 12 month, and some 2,500 people are directly employed by gambling companies domiciled in Sweden; a further 10,000 are estimated to be employed by companies with an online gambling license from the Swedish Gambling Authority but who are licensed abroad.

Horse racing betting has been found to generate a surplus of around two billion SEK – and each and every year around SEK 1.6 billion is raised for non-profit organizations from various lotteries. Due to fairly strict gambling regulations the number of problem gamblers in Sweden isn’t as high as in other countries – but it’s still just over 4% of the country’s population – and of those who are having problems controlling their gambling, 2.9% have a risk of severe gambling issues.

A Focus on Responsible Gambling

Any online casinos licensed by the Swedish Gambling Authority need to have a robust selection of responsible gambling tools in place to ensure that all of those who enjoy playing in the Swedish gambling market are able to protect themselves as best as possible against problem gambling – and the Swedish Gambling Authority is very vocal about the fact that gambling problems must be taken very seriously by licensees.

Under the Swedish Gambling Act, online gambling operators and developers of online casino games have a wide variety of responsibilities, including:

“Self-Imposed Gambling Limits: Licensees must provide the possibility for gamblers to limit or suspend themselves from gambling. The Swedish Gambling Authority holds the responsibility for the suspension registry Spell Pause, where it is possible to suspend oneself from all registered gambling.
Minimum Age: Persons under the age of 18 are not permitted to gamble and anyone under the age of 20 is not allowed to enter Casino Cosmopol.
Prohibition on Offering Credit: Licensees are not permitted to provide credit nor to imply such is on offer
Bonus Offers: Licensees are not permitted to provide bonus offers (nor to imply such is on offer), other than at the first time the gambler participates in gambling with them.
Social Responsibility: The license holder must ensure that social and health considerations are observed in its gambling operations. The licensee must counteract excessive gambling and help gamblers reduce their gambling when there is reason to do so. Spelinspektionen, the Swedish Gambling Authority has produced a guide with examples of how signs of excessive gambling can be identified and what measures the Swedish Gambling Authority expects the licensee to take when gamblers show signs of excessive gambling.”

COVID-19 Gambling Restrictions

The Swedish government, in conjunction with the Swedish Gambling Authority brought in sweeping new rules and regulations in 2020 to help deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Swedish Gambling Authority approved a number of temporary measures that were all designed to limit the potential risk to players as a result of being stuck at home for so long. Many of these moves were controversial – and it was only at the end of 2021 that the Swedish Gambling Authority announced that it would be scrapping the limits.

The first rule that was brought in was a 5,000 SEK weekly deposit limit – applicable to all players – and while we’ve seen this kind of limit imposed by other online gambling regulators, the Swedish Gambling Authority is the first to bring in such a limit without offering players the chance to request to increase their limit. The Swedish Gambling Authority also imposed a maximum 100 SEK limit on bonuses and promotions – and, as you can imagine, many Swedes weren’t very happy about this, choosing to head to illegal gambling websites instead as a way of getting around the restrictions.

The Swedish Gambling Act

The crux of where everything started in terms of regulation of online gambling in Sweden is the country’s gambling act – and this is the legal framework that governs the entire Swedish gambling industry. Due to the complex legal framework Sweden, for many years, had what’s known as a monopoly gambling market; only state-owned companies like Svenska Spel, or state-controlled companies like ATG were allowed to provide real money betting opportunities for players – and it wasn’t until the digitalization of the gambling industry that things began to change.

As customers were able to gamble with companies located outside of Sweden the government realized that something needed to be done, and that’s why they drafted up new legislation; the Swedish gambling act was officially introduced on January 1, 2019, and the new gambling act was designed to protect players as best as possible when online betting; it also puts a lot of emphasis on a gambling business to try to protect players.

There’s some interesting nuances of the gambling laws introduced – and for one, cheating at casino games is now a criminal offense in Sweden. A special body was also created to monitor and reduce match fixing – and, of course, the Swedish Gambling Authority was created to enforce gambling regulations in the country.

Disputes and Player Complaints

The Swedish Gambling Authority will take complaints and reports of operators running their business in bad faith – but they don’t guarantee a response.

In their own words:

‘We will not resolve consumer complaints concerning money lost on placed bets or from a gaming machine. Complaints of this kind may instead be a question for the Swedish Consumer Agency.’

Given the new age of the authority, it’s not yet clear as to how they will deal with complaints – and it will only be next year that we’ll be able to get an idea of how the authority will deal with online gambling related complaints.

FAQs

When was the Swedish Gambling Authority formed?

The Swedish Gambling Authority was officially established in 2019 after the Swedish government passed the Gambling Act; this new law was designed to give consumers (players) much stronger protections when playing at online casino sites, as, up until that point, Sweden didn’t regulate online casinos – and players were forced to play at off-shore sites.

Since its foundation the Swedish Gambling Authority has worked hard to ensure that gamblign companies are kept to pretty high standards – although their heavy-handed approach to regulation has led to many companies choosing to leave the Swedish gambling industry.

Can I claim bonuses and promotions at online casinos licensed by the Swedish Gambling Authority?

No; one of the most controversial rules set out by the Swedish Gambling Authority is the fact that online gambling companies can no longer offer most bonuses and promotions to players; this means that online casino sites aren’t able to offer welcome bonuses or matched deposit bonuses to new players, and it also means that free spins and loyalty programs can’t be offered or marketed to players.

Of course, aside from the fact that this has come to a great annoyance to players it’s also affected casinos quite a lot; many online gambling websites rely on bonuses and promotions to market themselves and make themselves stand out from the competition, and in Sweden, this is no longer possible. It’s become so problematic that we’ve even started to see some players (mostly streamers) move to other countries like Malta and Ireland in order to be able to claim bonuses and promotions once again.

Where can I find the best Swedish Gambling Authority-licensed casinos?

If you’re interested in playing at casinos that hold an online gambling license from the Swedish Gambling Authority then you need look no further than this page; here, you’ll find a wide variety of casinos all of which are regulated and hold the required license to accept players from Sweden.

Any casino you see listed on this page not only holds an online gambling license from the Swedish Gambling Authority but it also has been tested and vetted by our team of online gambling experts; this means you can enjoy gambling with complete peace of mind that you’re playing in a safe and fair environment.

Are online gambling companies leaving the Swedish market?

Yes; due to the strict regulations that the Swedish Gambling Authority has brought in, many of the smaller online gambling companies have been forced to leave the Swedish gambling industry altogether as it’s simply no longer profitable for them to operate in it. There’s a wide variety of reasons why this is the case, and aside from the high license fees, the fact that online casinos can no longer offer bonuses and promotions to players has affected them greatly.

Generally speaking it’s only the bigger, better-funded online casinos that can afford to operate in the Swedish market, and this is a big shame as it’s actually ended up pushing quite a few players into playing at unregulated (or poorly regulated) online casinos – like those located in Curacao.

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