Two Swedish gambling organizations are clashing publicly over suggested restrictions on the gambling market.
The Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling (BOS) and the government-owned gambling company Svenska Spel are publicly clashing over suggested plans for restrictions on the gambling market in Sweden. The two organizations have both published op-eds in the country’s largest business newspapers outlining their views.
The difference in opinions on restrictions
On the one hand, Svenska Spel advocates for a proposal that would classify games according to risk. High-risk games would then be subject to special restrictions on a number of topics, including marketing.
“Our proposals show that there is an opportunity to turn the tide in order to protect the regulated market and consumer protection if the gaming industry, relevant authorities and legislators act together,” wrote Anna Johnson, President and CEO of Svenska Spel in her signed op-ed. “For over a hundred years, Svenska Spel has taken responsibility for ensuring that gaming is both safe and entertaining. We want to contribute to the gaming market developing in the right direction: where consumers are at the center and where we can protect both the pleasure and security of gaming.”
On the other hand, BOS argues that such a restriction would affect online casinos more than any other sector of gambling, an area that is already competing heavily with unlicensed and often illegal gambling companies. Indeed, the Swedish Gambling Authority shut down three such unlicensed operators earlier this year.
“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,” wrote BOS Secretary General Gustaf Hoffstedt.
Hoffstedt went on to argue that such a restriction would benefit Svenska Spel commercially, as the company currently sells lottery tickets and online casino games.
“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 casinos via its lottery products,” claimed Hoffstedt.
Featured image: Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
