The Swedish Ministry of Finance has handed over details of its proposed changes to the 2018 Gambling Act to the European Commission (EC) for review.
The amendments to the Act come following the ‘Spelmarknadsutredningen’ independent inquiry of Sweden’s regulated gambling industry. The inquiry was carried out by Social Democrat MP Anna-Lena Sörenson in 2020.
The proposed changes include recommendations on consumer protections, safer gambling and further market integrity provisions and protocols.
The Ministry of Finance accepted these amendments to the Gambling Act and they have since been approved by Sweden’s Law Council. The expectation is that these changes will be passed into law by no later than July 1st 2023.
According to the Gambling Act amendments, all gambling operators must report any customer that is flagged as carrying out potential criminal activity to the Swedish police. Payment services providers (PSPs) will also be obliged to disclose information used in processing transactions for any unlicensed companies offering gambling services in the Swedish market.
Sweden’s Law Council has supported recommendations for gambling inspectorate Spelinspektionen to be given direct powers to order financial payment blocks without court approval or warrants.
The Swedish Sports Federation will also be allowed to process operator data (if needed) to carry out investigations into match-fixing and sports corruption
The EC must now review the proposed amendments to ensure that any changes do not infringe upon EU competition rules.
The Swedish government aims to complete stage-2 of gambling market reforms ahead of Sweden’s General Elections on 9 September.
Gambling industry journalist with a background in online poker and trading. Covering the regulated U.S Sports industry and the exciting world of online poker.