Spelinspektionen Warns Operators to Abide by the New Rules or Else

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Swedish Gambling Regulator Spelinspektionen Warns Operators to Abide by the New Rules or Else

In a public statement on Tuesday, the Swedish gambling regulator has warned new licensees to comply with the new rules unless they want to face the sternest consequences.

Spelinspektionen, the Swedish regulator formerly known as Lotteriinspektionen, publically warned all licensees which were approved to operate in Sweden from January 1st 2019, following complaints of irregularities and bad practices.


The Public Statement

Titled as a Letter to All Gaming Companies that They Must Comply with the Game Law, the statement issued by the Spelinspektionen was published on 22nd of January 2019. It says that the regulator has received plenty of complaints and tips on deficiencies and irregularities in licensees’ operations in several different areas. The regulator has also drawn attention to these irregularities in its supervision.

Primarily, the statement says, the irregularities are in relation to the licensees' responsibilities for self-exclusion and their marketing strategies imposed on those who are self-excluded. In addition, there are deficiencies in areas like clarification of gaming operators' websites and requirements for the design.

The regulator reminded operators that they have to feature the Spelpaus logo, along with two other responsible gaming websites, and ensure that players always have access to them and the program is always active.

Spelinspektionen also reminds operators that the starting point for the whole re-regulation of gambling was that gambling should be channelled to reliable, controllable and responsible players. The regulation is based on the fact that only operators that possess a Swedish gambling license can operate on the Swedish gambling market. For that reason, the regulator says, severe penalties have been imposed on those unlicensed operators who carried out gaming activities in Sweden without actually owning a license. These measures against illegal gambling are essential.

Therefore, operators who still have a license must follow the laws, regulations and conditions set by the regulator and the Game Law in the country. A licensee should, on their own initiative, make sure they fulfil the obligations under these regulations. A license holder has all the responsibility for their operations, and with this responsibility, the license holder is obliged to ensure that the operation is compliant with all requirements of the regulations.

The regulator will, therefore, initiate sterner supervision and act against those licensees that do not meet the requirements. If the regulator finds a serious breach of regulations, the licensee's gambling license might be revoked. This may even be accompanied by a penalty fee imposed by the authorities, of approximately 10% of the operator's turnover.


A Final Word of Advice

The regulator explicitly says that the letter was sent to all gaming companies that have been granted a gambling license on the Swedish market. Licensees who believe comply with the requirements of the gambling regulation can ignore it. Otherwise, Spelinspektionen will take matters into their own hands and will start with action effective immediately.

This is the second time Spelinspektionen has felt the need to publically remind and warn operators of the regulatory requirements, who are clearly failing to honour them.

A similar letter, just a week ago, was published following Swedish media’s reports about 11 sites including Betsafe, Bwin and Betsson that were sending adds to excluded online players, and about self-excluded players getting access to gambling sites licensed by the Swedish regulator.

With the latest letter, it is clear that there won’t be a third warning. The regulator voiced that whoever gets caught not abiding by the rules is going to get their license revoked and is going to be made an example for others to see what happens when they’re not complying with the rules.


Brand New License Holders

In the meantime, Spelinspektionen works tirelessly and continues awarding online gambling licenses to its applicants. In just one week, the regulator has issued 6 new licenses, and now, there are 65 licensees in total.

On 17th of January, More Tech Group Ltd has been licensed for betting, Legolas Invest Ltd has received its online gambling and betting license, while Ellmount Gaming Limited has been given an online gambling license.

Dreambox Games OÜ has received a license for online gambling on 18th of January, and three days later, Pixel Digital Ltd has been awarded a license for online gambling and betting.

The last license receiver so far was Lottomatrix Operations Limited, awarded with a license for online gambling and betting on 22nd of January.
 
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