Swedish authorities to meet operators over regulatory issues
Disgruntled gaming companies will have the opportunity to air concerns and clarify regulatory issues next month after Swedish gambling regulator Spelinspektionen invited licensees to a key meeting with various authorities.
Representatives from the regulator, as well as the Swedish Tax Agency, Financial Police and the Swedish Consumer Agency will all be in attendance at the 17 September meeting.
“The purpose of the meeting is to increase the understanding between the market players and the authorities,” the watchdog said.
A number of issues are set to be discussed at the meeting, with the regulator having clamped down hard on any apparent breaches of licensee terms since the market opened up on January 1.
In April, the regulator issued warnings to a number of operators that were found to have offered certain betting options on an Allsvenska football match featuring players under the age of 18.
However, last month, Swedish operator association Branschföreningen för Onlinespel (BOS) requested an urgent meeting with Spelinspektionen in the wake of a number of operators being fined by the watchdog.
In a letter to Spelinspektionen, BOS secretary general Gustaf Hoffstedt outlined a series of concerns about the future regulatory environment in the country due to operators unintentionally falling foul of the regulator’s interpretation of the Gambling Act.
Hoffstedt’s letter centred around Spelinspektionen’s decision to hit eight licensees with fines ranging from SEK10m to SEK700,000 for apparently offering odds on sporting events featuring a majority of participants under the age of 18.
However the request was never granted, and last week four more Swedish sportsbook operators were sanctioned for similar violations.
The invitation to next month’s meeting has been extended to a total of 87 regulated companies in Sweden after Spelinspektionen confirmed today (28 August) that Apollo Entertainment Limited had become the latest business to secure a licence in the country a week ago.
The Casinoaction.se has been listed as the only website that will be controlled currently in Sweden by Apollo, which is based in Malta and manages 29 active gambling websites in the UK.