Sweden in the News — Weekly Round-up for December 21, 2018

By Brian Cullingworth, Last updated Dec 21, 2018

Gaming Developers Ready To Go When Swedish Market Opens

January 1 2019 will see Quickspin and High 5 Games well prepared

Both High 5 Games and Quickspin have issued press releases this week indicating their readiness to service the re-regulated Swedish market opening early next year.

High 5 Games will offer an extensive portfolio of HTML5 games for Sweden through NYX/SciGames Digital. Multiple real-money operators are launching 15 games on January 1st with a total library of 40 to follow.

It says that many of these titles are already well known to the Swedish market through land and digital platforms and include games tailored to Sweden with specific game and theme styles such as Valkyrie Queen, Joker’s Riches and the innovative Silver Enchantress.

High 5 Games claims it continues to actively develop opportunities and to work with governing bodies throughout Europe and the United States to expand its presence in 2019 including Pennsylvania, Denmark, Spain and Italy.

Playtech subsidiary Quickspin will also be ready to activate in Sweden as soon as the market opens.

30 slots from the Swedish specialist will include Sakura Fortune, Dragon Shine, Phoenix Sun, Wild Chase and Second Strike, with more to follow in the coming months.

Swedish operators and players will also have access to Quickspin’s pioneering promotional and incentive features, including Achievements, Achievements Races, Tournaments and Challenges.

Daniel Lindberg, Quickspin CEO, said Thursday that the Swedish move was one of the supplier’s most significant in recent times: “Being one of the first slots to go live with Swedish players is incredibly exciting for us. As well as being our home market, we have been preparing for this opportunity with our operating partners since August this year – and are delighted to have first-mover advantage.”

Another Four Licensees Named In Swedish Market

Licensees total 31

Sweden’s gambling authority Lotteriinspektionen has awarded an additional four online gambling licenses to Bayton Ltd, Dumarca Gaming, Enlabs AB and Jackpotjoy Group marking a total of 31 licensees preparing for the opening of the newly regulated market on January 1, 2018.

Bayton Ltd’s online casino license covers its Spin Casino, JackpotCity and Ruby Fortune brands, and Dumarca Gaming, verajohn.se, and intercasino.se brands.

Enlabs AB is approved for online casino and sportsbetting for optibet.se, optibet.com, bestpoker.com, bestcasino.com, bestbet.com, and bestbingo.com.

Genesis Global Ltd licensed brands comprise casinojoy.com, spela.com, casinocruise.com, spinit.com, sloty.com, genesiscasino.com, vegashero.com, pelaa.com, and casinogods.com

Swedish Football Association Wants Betting Restrictions To Deter Match Fixing

On lower division football and live betting

Sweden’s Football Association, Svenska Fotbollförbundet (SvFF), has turned to the Swedish Courts for an interim decision on betting restrictions, particularly youth league and live betting.

The Association said it had approached the Lotteriinspektionen on numerous occasions to gain clarification on whether newly licensed betting firms would be permitted to offer markets on lower division football and live betting such as yellow cards, number of corners etc. to which it is opposed because of the threat of match fixing.

The SvFF said the Authority has referred to existing legal texts on inappropriate game items but were undecided on future gaming restrictions.

“We can not tolerate not prioritizing the task of parliament and government to counter match fixing through clear restrictions on gaming,” SvFF chief legal counsel, Anders Hübinette, said.

In its filing, the SvFF has asked the Administrative Court in Linköping, to limit the permitted game range to counteract the risk of match fixing detailing a ban on offering betting markets on lower-level games (under Elitettan on the Ladies side and Div. 2 on the men’s side), youth series and in-match events such as yellow cards and number of corners.

The association wants the ruling prior to the opening of the market on January 1, 2019 which will then stand in the interim until the gambling authority has published formal regulations.

“Although the Authority has not yet issued regulations, the legislation provides scope for conditional gaming licenses as we now demand,” Hübinette said.

“We have a duty to Swedish football to do everything we can to counteract the risk of match fixing. We know that there is a greater risk of match fixing in the lower series levels where surveillance from both the federation and the media is lower.”

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