The Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling (BOS) has issued a sharp rebuke to a proposal from state-owned operator Svenska Spel, which calls for online casino games to be classified as “high-risk” and subjected to stricter marketing rules.
According to BOS, such a move would be counterproductive and would ultimately “undermine consumer protection” in Sweden.
The debate comes as Sweden continues to grapple with a channelisation rate that has fallen below the regulator’s stated goal of 90 per cent.
Recent figures from 2024 show the rate has dropped to 85 per cent, with the online casino vertical showing a particularly low channelisation rate of between 72 and 82 per cent.
BOS argues that the online casino sector is already facing the most intense competition from the unlicensed black market, and imposing further restrictions on legal, licensed operators would only serve to push more players towards these unsafe and unregulated sites.
In a recent report, Svenska Spel made 18 recommendations to improve the market, including the “high-risk” label for online casino content.
However, Swedish Trade Association Secretary General Gustaf Hoffstedt has suggested a potential conflict of interest, arguing that the proposal would commercially benefit Svenska Spel.
He pointed out that since Svenska Spel operates both monopoly lottery products and competitive online casino games under the same brand, a ban on advertising for online casino would give them an enormous and unfair advantage.
Despite the significant disagreement on this issue, both BOS and Svenska Spel have found common ground on a separate proposal.
They are in agreement with a government-backed initiative to amend the Gambling Act to strengthen the Swedish Gambling Authority’s ability to take enforcement action against unlicensed companies that target the Swedish market.
Gustaf Hoffstedt, Secretary General of BOS:
“If Svenska Spel’s proposal was to go through, even greater market shares await unlicensed and illegal online casinos. It is a natural consequence if the legal licensed gambling companies are prevented or prohibited from marketing themselves and their products. The proposal that Svenska Spel dresses up in the name of consumer protection would therefore, on the contrary, harm consumer protection, as we know that a transition from licensed to unlicensed gambling entails an increased risk of problem gambling.
This is because the company sells both lottery tickets on the monopoly market and online casino on the competitive market, under the same brand. A ban on advertising for online casino would mean an enormous advantage for the monopolist Svenska Spel, which then, as the only operator on the Swedish gambling market, can indirectly continue to advertise online casino via its lottery products.”
