Swedish government slams operators over underage match betting claims
SFA attacks unwillingness of betting operators to cease offering bets on players under 18
Sweden’s Minister of Civil Affairs Ardalan Sherakabi has attacked Swedish-licensed sports betting operators for allegedly offering betting on football matches involving players under 18.
In an interview with Swedish news outlet Dagens Nyheter, Sherakabi said obligations to prevent match-fixing superseded any rights to offer betting on sporting events calling on Swedish operators to take responsibility for the markets they offered.
The comments come less than a month after several complaints were received concerning the processing of bets by operators on a Swedish Premier League match involving AIK and IFK Gothenburg, where the majority of players were under the age of 18.
The match was called off following allegations that an AIK player had been offered bribes to throw the match
Following the complaints, the Swedish Gambling Authority (SGA) launched an investigation into several unnamed operators, initiating “special supervision” of their betting activities.
The Swedish Gambling Act states that betting on games where most of the players are under the age of 18 is illegal. The primary goal of this is to discourage match fixing involving youth players.
According to reports in the Swedish press, the Swedish Football Association (SFA) has notified the SGA that they have identified 18 incidents where betting on underage players and matches has been offered by Swedish-licenced firms.
Swedish Football Association secretary general Håkan Sjöstrand criticised operators over the breaches, deeming it to be proof that self-regulation by operators “does not work”.
Sjöstrand highlighted the fact that the 18 identified cases were the result of random checks, adding that the SFA did not have the resources to monitor and investigate every match. He alleged that sports betting firms were either unable or unwilling to do anything about the breaches, due to the additional resource requirements of checking every game.
“The risk is so clear and it is difficult to find a waterproof regulatory framework against the cheaters, but it is not an argument for not doing anything,” Sjöstrand added.
Sweden’s National Sports Council is expected to tighten the rules on match fixing next week.