The Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling (BOS) has announced in a statement on its official website that it has appealed to the Ministry of Finance to close a loophole that has, in BOS’ view, contributed to the proliferation of illegal gambling in the country.

At a time that Sweden is struggling to maintain a strong level of channelization – the metric used to describe how many people are playing in the legal gambling market – counteracting the clout of unlicensed websites has become a priority for the industry, trade groups, and admittedly – lawmakers.

Make amendments necessary to empower the regulated market and sap the unlicensed operators

According to BOS, right now it’s not illegal for unlicensed companies to specifically target Swedish players by offering their casinos in the Swedish language and tailoring bonuses in the local currency. This is a loophole that is emboldening such actors to continue pursuing and pushing forward, with the body describing the current state of affairs as a "massive influx."

The reason this has happened is because the Government changed the application of the Gambling Act compared to how the proposal was originally presented by the Gambling License Investigation, the investigation that then formed the basis for the new Gambling Act and the Swedish reregulation in 2019. The Gambling License Investigation wanted to criminalize companies in general that lack a Swedish gambling license that still accept Swedish gambling consumers.

However, BOS believes that the Ministry has the purview to fix that and to make the amendments necessary to change the Gambling License Investigation, adjusting it to its original intention.

BOS has reiterated that a quarter of all gambling in the country that is currently ongoing is not licensed, which is costing a lot to the industry. Legal operators are forced to compete against a black market that does not abide by the same rules, the common criticism goes.

Criminalizing unlicensed gambling would help suppress the black market

However, the government is not sitting idly by. The regulatory regime was changed recently to now penalize suppliers whose games are offered on websites that target Swedish customers, putting a lot of the responsibility on companies who wish to operate legally in the country.

BOS Secretary-General Gustaf Hoffstedt has said that to eliminate a part of the black market right now, the country would need to pass the recommended amendments to the Gambling Act so that the behavior exhibited by unlicensed websites may be criminalized, and dictate stricter terms of enforcement.

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