Swedish Cultural Affairs Committee backs gaming bill

Sweden’s Committee on Cultural Affairs has announced its support for proposed changes to the country’s gambling laws.

The national government is seeking to introduce updated regulations for online gaming and has published a draft bill on the matter.

The mooted changes are not due to come into effect until January 1, 2019, while the licensing process for the new regulations will open on August 1 this year.

Approval from the Committee on Cultural Affairs is another major step towards the bill becoming law and, according to Nordic Gambling, a final vote on the bill is now expected to take place on Thursday.

The committee, which includes members of parliament from Sweden’s political parties, backed the proposal and rejected all six mooted amendments to the bill, having scrutinised the proposal for more than one month.

In its opinion, which was published on Friday, the committee wrote: “This proposed reform is long-awaited. The proposal means that today’s outdated monopoly will be replaced by a modern legislation that will include the whole of the expanding gambling market.

“The aim is to create a gambling market with high consumer protection, high safety in the games and clear conditions for operating on the market through a licensing system where we open up the Swedish market for serious operators who want to take part and be responsible.

“Therefore, we close the system for actors that are not serious.”

Related article: Sweden pushes back licence applications to 1 August