Sweden to launch re-regulation inquiry
Study into new framework to be published by March 2017 and could have major ramifications for monopoly operator Svenska Spel
Sweden’s Ministry of Finance will launch an inquiry into the effects of a potential re-regulation of the country’s gambling market in a move which could spell the end of state monopoly Svenska Spel.
In a statement this afternoon the Ministry said the inquiry, which is due to report by 31 March 2017, will “develop proposals for a regulation that is characterised by a high level of consumer protection” while also pledging that any regulation would ensure that operators without a licence would be shut out of the market.
In a list of 18 directives published by the government to guide the inquiry, it said the state’s role in any re-regulated environment should also be considered.
Speaking to eGaming Review shortly after publication of the directives, Gustaf Hoffstedt, secretary general of the Association of Online Gambling Operators, said he was happy the directives leave little doubt about the future of the state monopoly.
“Sweden will abandon it in favour of a licence system,” he said. “I also welcome that the inquiry is given the task to examine whether it is suitable or not for the state to run its own gambling company in a non-discriminating licence system,” he added.
Among other directives, the inquiry will be tasked with recommending a suitable tax rate for licensed operators and will also consider whether additional marketing restrictions on gaming should be introduced.
Writing in influential newspaper Dagens Nyheter on Tuesday, Sweden’s minister of public administration Ardalan Shekarabi said that by opening up to competition and introducing licensing, the government could regain control of the market and keep out rogue operators.
Shekarabi said the country’s current Lotteries Act fails to account for the realities of online operators offering Swedish customers products from offshore.
“A larger part of the Swedish gaming market today consists of foreign players who do not follow Swedish rules,” Shekarabi said.
“The time has come to adapt Swedish legislation to the conditions of an international and easily accessible gaming market,” he added.