Sweden Intends to Tackle Non-Licensed Gaming Platforms
Sweden has been determined to control the online gambling market within its borders, and it seems that the country's authorities are now taking more aggressive measures to stamp out unlicensed operators.
A new amendment to Sweden's gambling legislation has been proposed, aiming to align it with European law. The amendment will also allow the Swedish government to take stronger action against companies that cater to Swedish customers illegally.
The Ministry of Finance put forward this proposal on Monday, which will level the playing field between domestic and foreign operators when it comes to breaking advertising laws. The existing legislation discriminated against foreign operators, who faced harsher penalties.
The revised legislation would hold both domestic and foreign operators liable for advertising without a license in Sweden. Unauthorized operators who advertise in the country may face hefty fines or even up to six months in prison if they are found guilty of "intentionally and unlawfully promoting participation in a lottery."
Discriminatory Rules Inciting Unregulated Advertisements
The discriminatory nature of the previous law led to disputes, as European courts ruled against Sweden in cases related to such advertisements. In a 2011 case, Sweden's Court of Appeal dismissed charges against two newspaper editors who had published ads for unlicensed gambling sites. The court ruled against the case due to the inconsistency between Swedish law and European laws.
As a result, unlicensed operators ramped up their advertising efforts, spending 2.6 billion krona ($300 million) on ads in 2013—twice as much as licensed operators that year. Currently, Svenska Spel, the state-backed operator with a monopoly on legal online gambling in Sweden, is the only legal provider of online games in the country.
Ongoing Regulatory Challenges
This month, the Swedish Gaming Board requested Apple to remove all gambling apps targeted at Swedish players from the iTunes App Store. Over a dozen major poker operators, such as PokerStars and 888, and prominent bookmakers, like William Hill, Betfair, and Unibet, had their apps taken down by Apple.
Throughout March, there have been several developments regarding online gambling in Sweden. However, this has led to backlash from both the companies and industry groups in Europe, as well as disgruntled players. Swedish regulators refute any claims that they demanded Apple to remove the apps but simply notified them of potentially illegal operations.
In a separate incident, Svenska Spel's online poker site experienced a massive DDoS attack, causing it to cancel one of the events in the 2014 Swedish Masters tournament series and eventually leading to a temporary shutdown of its entire poker room.
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