HÃ¥kansson named Lotteriinspektionen chair

The Swedish Lotteriinspektionen (Gambling Authority) has appointed Per HÃ¥kansson as the organisation’s new chairman.

HÃ¥kansson (pictured) will hold the role alongside his current position of chief legal counsel to the country’s Finansinspektionen (Financial Supervisory Authority), where he has served since 2009. Previously he held the same role at the Swedish pensions authority for a year, where he joined after six years as general counsel for the Central Bank of Sweden.

He will replace Anne-Christine Zachrisson as the authority’s chair, with Zachrisson remaining on its board of directors.

His appointment comes as the Swedish finance ministry prepares to submit a series of proposals aimed at creating a regulatory framework in June this year. This followed a pledge by Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and minister for financial markets Peter Norman to act on the findings of an investigation by the country’s National Audit Office (Riskrevisionen), published in June last year.

In January 2013 Reinfeldt and Norman issued a statement in which they said that “some legislative changes” are necessary, and that the Finanzinspektionen would “return to Parliament with a proposal in order to establish a well-functioning regulatory framework”.

As a result of the pledge a number of Swedish operators, led by Betsson and Unibet, formed the Branschforeningen for Onlinspel (BOS) under the chairmanship of Betsson chief executive Magnus Silfverberg. BOS spoken out in favour of a 10% tax on gross gaming revenues, arguing that rate this would give the government greater control over the market.