Svenska Spel lays out slew of suggestions for gambling reforms

Summary

Svenska Spel has published a detailed report proposing 18 reforms to reshape Sweden’s gambling market, focusing on stronger consumer protection, tougher enforcement against unlicensed operators and clearer regulatory duties for licence-holders. The proposals aim to address persistent problems since the 2019 re-regulation: accessible illegal gambling, rising problem play (especially among young people and women) and a channelisation rate stuck below the government’s 90% target.

Author style — Punchy: This isn’t window-dressing. Svenska Spel frames the measures as practical fixes to stop the regulated market from sliding into irrelevance — so if you care about the Swedish market staying viable, these recommendations matter.

Key Points

Introduce a risk classification system in gambling law to treat high-risk products (eg online casinos) differently from low-risk games (eg lotteries).
Require clearer, more detailed rules from the Swedish Gambling Authority on licence-holders’ duty of care to reduce subjective self-regulation.
Move to structured, risk-based inspections and give the regulator broader injunctive powers to act faster.
Ban unlicensed operators from accepting Swedish players and implement DNS-blocking for unlicensed sites, following examples in Denmark, Norway and Singapore.
Extend the prohibition on promoting unlicensed gambling to payment providers, communication services and social media platforms.
Require licensed operators to publish data on responsible gambling measures and outcomes for greater transparency.
Introduce tailored protections for vulnerable groups: stricter marketing limits, deposit caps and monitoring for under-25s and those returning from Spelpaus.
Mandate a care call from independent counsellors for everyone who self-excludes via Spelpaus.
Allow operators to perform credit checks and create a national register to block quick loans to deter credit-financed gambling.
Ban all forms of gambling bonuses (beyond a one-off welcome offer) and bar direct marketing to consumers under 25.
Practical banking measures: let consumers block gambling transactions at the bank and ban operators from allowing cancelled pending withdrawals.
Evidence cited: 48% of calls to the national gambling helpline in 2023 named online casino as the main issue; youth gambling has risen sharply, with nearly half of boys in upper secondary school reporting past-year gambling.

Context and relevance

Sweden’s regulated market has been grappling with enforcement gaps since re-regulation in 2019. Svenska Spel’s proposals mirror international stronger-enforcement models and respond to clear public-health signals: rising problem play, youth exposure and the dominance of higher-risk games in market growth. For operators, regulators and policymakers, the report is both a critique of current arrangements and a menu of legislative and practical steps intended to boost channelisation and protect vulnerable players.

Why should I read this?

Quick and to the point: if you work in Swedish iGaming, payments, regulation or player safety — or you care about market sustainability — this summary saves you a read. Svenska Spel’s 18 suggestions lay out concrete legal and operational changes that could reshape how the market is policed, how players are protected and how unlicensed operators are stopped. Read it now if you want to know what might be coming down the line.

Source

Source: https://next.io/news/regulation/svenska-spel-suggestions-gambling-reforms/