Swedish Gambling Regulator Calls for Information Meeting
Swedish gambling regulator invited licensees to an information meeting in September. The summons came days after an industry association asked for clearer gambling rules.
The Spelinspektionen regulatory body will convene the information meeting on September 17. Also, it expects all gambling licensees to attend the meeting. In addition, the Swedish gambling regulator will send out the official invitations in August.
The gambling industry news came after a trade group complained about the fines imposed on online gambling licensees. In addition, they claimed the gambling regulator didn’t give any warnings before imposing the fines. The regulatory body didn’t comment on the issue.
Swedish Gambling Regulator Imposes Sanctions
The regulatory body gave out the sanctions to eight online licensees. The regulator found out they accepted bets from players under 19 years old. As a result, the Gaming Innovation Group closed its operations in Sweden. They will resume their operations after the regulator gives an explanation of its rules.
In addition, Betfair, The Stars Group, Bwin, and Bet365 are going to appeal their fines. Sweden started regulating sports betting last January 1. Out of the 67 companies with gambling licenses, 18 received penalties for breaking rules. This is a cause of concern for bookie software suppliers and sportsbook operators in the country.
In other Swedish gambling news, media outlets revealed some online casino affiliates are using the regulator’s self-exclusion program to target vulnerable gamblers. According to bookie pay per head services providers, online casino affiliates are buying Google ad words connected to Spelpaus. As a result, individuals looking for the self-exclusion program find online casino ads as top search results.
A Swedish Google representative claimed the search engine already removed the offending ads after they found out about them. However, searching for spelpaus will provide links to online casinos from Curacao. Google said that gambling licensees have access to Google Ads platforms. Affiliates don’t have access because they can’t be trusted.