Exclusive: Swedish egaming legislation unlikely before 2014, minister admits
Egaming legislation in Sweden only likely to be introduced near end of current government's term in office, minster reveals.
Sweden is unlikely to agree a framework for a regulated online gambling market until 2014 at the earliest, eGaming Review understands.
An announcement regarding potential online gambling legislation was expected to be made at the pelmarknadsansvaret 2011 (Gambling Social Responsibility), conference, held in Stockholm yesterday.
Johanna Lybeck Lilja, state secretary for the Ministry of Finance, revealed that consumer power and social issues were the key stumbling blocks, rather than financial reasons, and that the government planned to “come back” to the issue.
Gustaf Hoffstedt, Nya Moderaterna Party MP for Gotland, told eGaming Review that a decision to regulate the Swedish market is now unlikely until the end of the current government’s four-year term in 2014.
“I understand there may be a possibility of a licensed system being introduced at the very end of this period in the parliament in 2014, but I think it is probably more realistic to speak about regulation happening under the next government from 2014-15.”
Hoffstedt explained that one of the key disputes had arisen over the question of how the government could exclude unlicensed sites. The Swedish parliament has previously struggled to pass rulings on music piracy and anti-terrorism measures due to concerns about restricting freedom online.
While the Swedish government remains reluctant to look into egaming regulation, there is, however a general trend in favour of legislation. The only area of disagreement concerned land-based gambling, with Hoffstedt’s Nya Moderaterna party originally calling for the establishment of retail gaming licenses, dropping its support after opposition from the other parties.
“The four right-wing parties would like to establish a licensing system similar to Denmark, and the Social Democrats have come to the same conclusion. It is very interesting to see such a big majority supporting this solution, but we are still waiting for the government to hear the strong voice from parliament,” Hoffstedt explained.
While Swedish monopoly Svenska Spel has spoken out against calls for a licensed market, preferring to preserve its current status, it has been suggested that opening up the market would allow them to compete with European operators by offering new products.
“It isn’t particularly surprising that Svenska Spel is speaking out in favour of a monopoly,” Hoffstedt said, “but on the other hand they are submitting applications to the government to launch new products. As the government is afraid of breaching EU competition laws, these applications are always denied. I am not sure that the monopoly is such a good thing for Svenska Spel, as their product offering is restricted,” he added.