Spelinspektionen prepares Spelpaus marketing push

The Swedish Gaming Inspectorate (Spelinspektionen) has set out plans to launch a new marketing campaign to promote its Spelpaus.se self-exclusion scheme, after admitting that players' awareness of the system was limited.

Spelpaus.se went live from 1 January 2019, the same date Sweden that opened its regulated online gambling market, allowing consumers to block access to gambling websites. The suspension can last one, three or six months, or indefinitely.

At present, around 52,000 are signed up with Spelpaus.se. However, Spelinspektionen said that the country’s government had been keen to further spread awareness of the scheme to ensure that more people can access help if they need it during the ongoing novel coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis.

Spelinspektionen communications manager Anders Sims admitted there is still a large number of players that are not aware of the initiative and the regulator will seek to educate more people about self-exclusion through the new marketing campaign.

“After just under a year, half of all players knew about Spelpaus.se; it's good, but not good enough,” Sims said. “Anyone who loses control of their gambling, or for other reasons wants to avoid gambling, should know that there is a good tool at the Spelinspektionen.”

The campaign, which launches today (15 June), will feature a series of messages, with a number of these to be broadcast as adverts across television channels in Sweden.

Last week, Sweden’s government also approved plans to introduce a number of temporary restrictions for the country’s regulated online casino market as part of an effort to protect players from gambling-related harm amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The new measures will come into effect from 2 July and remain in place until the end of 2020, with the restrictions to apply to online casino games and slots.

Consumers will face an SEK5,000 (£427/€475/$535) mandatory weekly deposit cap, while licensees will only be able to offer bonuses up to SEK100. Players will also be required to set time limits as to how long they play online casino games and slots with licensed operators in Sweden.