Reports SWEDEN MARKET - ONLINE
organised crime. Te move comes after the huge negative response to the government’s plan to extend the Covid restrictions, which have highlighted a concern that the government’s policy differs to that of parliament’s.
Gustaf Hoffstedt at BOS said: “Tis is an initiative from the government that we welcome. Te first two years of the re-regulated gambling market in Sweden has been marked by repressive measures from authorities and the government towards the licenced operators in Sweden, whereas the unlicenced operators have been left untouched. A growing proportion of the Swedish punters have been abandoning the Swedish licenced market with online casino as the most extreme example, with a leakage out of the system of at least 25 per cent. Considering that the government’s goal is that at least 90 per cent of Sweden’s gambling shall stay within the licensing system by January 1 2022, that goal appears very distant.
“We now welcome that the government appears to have understood and accepted policy standpoints that the industry has been highlighting as flaws in the Swedish gambling regulation. One of the severe problems with the current legislation is that despite the government’s rhetoric, most of the unlicenced gambling that Sweden punters are offered is in fact legal.”
Te Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling (BOS) represents more than 20 online gaming companies active in Sweden, including William Hill, Kindred, Betsson, NetEnt, Bet365 and Evolution. BOS says licensed operators are still exposed to tough competition from unlicenced alternatives, particularly within the online casino and sports betting sectors.
Gustaf Hoffstedt added: “Most providers, including all major players in the market, applied for and eventually obtained a Swedish licence soon thereafter. Some providers chose not to obtain a licence, thereby circumventing the obligations imposed on the licenced operators. Te degree to which online gambling by Swedish consumers takes place on licenced sites is called channelisation. It is widely acknowledged that a share of gambling turnover takes place outside the licence system such as on sites that are controlled by companies that do not hold a Swedish licence and hence do not abide by the Swedish regulations nor pay gambling tax.
“Te channelisation rate is the single most important aspect when assessing the success or failure of the Swedish gambling reform. If channelisation decreases, a growing number of players will not be guarded by the regulation put in place to protect them from the negative effects from excessive gambling. In the bill to Riksdagen containing the new Gambling Act, a channelisation rate of 90 per cent was defined as the political goal of the reform. Te proportion of gambling within the Swedish licence system, which in our opinion broadly
NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA P49
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