Memorandum sees Spelinspektionen debate land-based supervision rethink

The Swedish gambling regulator says it may need to “reprioritise resources” to focus on illegal land-based gambling as part of new plans for the country’s gambling industry.

Phasing out state-owned casinos is among the initiatives included in a recently revealed memorandum affecting the gaming sector.

The Swedish Police Authority says in the accompanying investigation that it is likely that a portion of players who currently play at state-owned casinos will turn to the land-based black market.

The Swedish gambling regulator, Spelinspektionen, said it agrees with the assessment and insisted it “may need to allocate more resources to counteract illegal land-based gambling activities” given the predicted increase in the activity.

Spelinspektionen admitted that it “lacks sufficient data” to estimate how much more illegal land-based gambling there will be from the shutdown of state-owned casinos, adding the current extent of illegal land-based gambling in Sweden is “unclear.”

“Over the past few years, the Swedish Gambling Authority has acted as an expert in a handful of cases where prosecutions have been initiated,” it said.

“Although the number of such cases is relatively few today, the Authority’s assessment is that law enforcement agencies are increasingly recognising illegal gambling.

“The Swedish Gambling Authority has also noted an increased number of applications from certain operators in the land-based commercial casino gaming sector for new gaming venues.

‘The Swedish Gambling Authority will monitor the development of this part of the gaming market and will likely need to increase its supervision and review future needs for authorisations depending on the developments in this segment of the gaming market.”

Spelinspektionen has also welcomed the memorandum’s pledges to increase efforts to counter money laundering.

The ability to collect periodic data would “provide better opportunities to meet any reporting requirements to the future European Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (AMLA) and in the work related to Sweden’s report to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF),” the regulator said.

The memorandum also seeks to remove the restrictions on state lotteries in Sweden. Spelinspektionen has requested the amendment of a clause which states the value of prizes from a scratch lottery, a number game or a probability game during the licence period may amount to a maximum of 50 percent of the value of the stakes in the game during the same period.

“If the restriction for state lotteries is removed, the provision should apply to all lotteries in order not to alter the current competitive conditions against lotteries for public benefit purposes,” the Swedish Gambling Authority said.