Gustaf Hoffstedt is the secretary general of the Swedish gambling trade body BOS. He believes the regulatory review is unlikely to solve the issue. He doubts it will address the country’s declining channelization rate.
In response to the Gambling Act review on February 25, Hoffstedt spoke to iGB. He stated that this is yet another repressive measure from the government. What is even more important is liberalizing the licensed market to make it more attractive to consumers.
On February 20, the Swedish government announced a review of its Gambling Act to address the growing threat of illegal gambling sites. The investigation will run until September. It will consider measures to make it harder for illegal sites to operate in Sweden.
It follows an open letter published on February 16 by Hoffstedt and BOS. This called for the government to close a loophole in gambling legislation. The loopholes let illegal operators to target and engage players.
Hoffstedt said in the letter, under the legal framework of Sweden unlicensed operators are only now allowed from offering gambling when targeting consumers in Swedish and/or processing transactions in the local currency SEK of Sweden.
Many black-market providers bypass this rule by operating in English and using euros as their currency.
In a separate letter to Hoffstedt, the Swedish government stated that the Gambling Act review aims to shut out unlicensed gambling. The letter also requested insight into the current gambling market.
Hoffstedt believes stricter rules for licensed operators are driving black market growth. He has long advocated for a more liberal approach to Sweden’s gambling regulations.
The BOS chief believes the Gambling Act review will likely result in further restrictive measures for the legal market.
Hoffstedt adds that the previous social democrat-led government, nor the current government has taken any initiative to make the licensed market more attractive to consumers. Therefore, his pessimistic view is that they will struggle with channelization in coming years.
