Sweden’s gambling trade body BOS has written to the country’s Ministry of Finance urging it to remove a “loophole” in the Gambling Act that allows unlicensed operators to accept players in Sweden when targeting them in a language outside of Swedish.
In the letter, BOS said the Gambling Act only prohibits unlicensed operators from offering gambling without consequences when targeting consumers in Swedish and/or processing transactions in Sweden’s local currency SEK.
This, BOS said, is driving black market growth in Sweden and preventing it from reaching its goal of 90% channelisation.
“It is [currently] permitted for gambling companies all over the world and their service providers to enable games from Swedish customers as long as it is done in a language other than Swedish and in a currency other than SEK. Most Swedes understand English and understand the value of commonly used foreign currencies, such as the euro,” the letter said.
“There is therefore no real possibility for the Government to initiate any effective measure within the scope of the Gaming Act to make it more difficult for Swedish gambling customers to freely choose to play at gambling companies that are not licensed in Sweden.”
Call for amendments on Sweden gambling law
BOS is urging the government to update the Gambling Act to criminalise all operators that accept Swedish users without holding the relevant licence. It believes this will allow for a more widespread approach to blocking illegal websites in Sweden.
The group said it has raised the issue with both the current and previous governments but to no avail.
“We would like the government to take the initiative to change the scope of application of the Gambling Act so that it also becomes illegal to passively receive Swedish gambling consumers,” the letter read.
In an additional statement BOS general secretary Gustaf Hoffstedt said it is completely inadequate for almost a quarter of all gambling in Sweden to be via unlicensed operators.
“Not least given the total absence of consumer protection on the black gambling market.
“If we are to succeed in eliminating this part of the gambling market, the Gambling Act must be amended and all unlicensed gambling must be criminalised.”
Channelisation remains a concern in Sweden
Such changes, BOS said, would in turn help with the country’s channelisation rates. Q3 data from Swedish horseracing monopoly ATG showed traffic to unlicensed gambling sites has increased tenfold since 2019.
Published in December, the data shows Sweden’s channelisation rate was likely between 70% and 82% in Q3. Even at the upper end, this undercuts the 86% estimated by Spelinspektionen in its October report.
The estimate is, however, slightly higher than ATG’s previous channelisation forecast of 68% to 81% from Q2 2024. ATG said the figures suggest the rate is stabilising.