Swedish Parliament Approves New Safer Gambling Measures

The Riksdag of Sweden (the country's parliament) declared that from July 1, 2023, the Swedish Gambling Act will be amended to introduce new measures for promoting safer gambling and market safeguards. This is after the Swedish Culture Committee recently voted to pass reforms to create a "Healthier and Safer Gambling Market." As a result, new safer gambling measures were approved to protect customers and increase industry safety.

As of July 1, the revised Gambling Act necessitates all regulated payment service providers (PSPs) to block gambling payments to and from illegal operators. This measure intends to discourage Swedish gamblers from joining the unregulated market. 

The new regulations will empower the Swedish Gambling Authority or Spelinspektionen to help the institution effectively regulate the market and ensure regulated gambling sites follow the law. Before this, the industry regulator could block payment options from processing illegal operators' payouts. But it has since expressed practical and technical difficulties with the current provisions.

Enhancing Data-Sharing Requirements to Prevent Match-Fixing

In the meantime, operators with licenses from the Swedish Gambling Authority must comply with novel data-sharing regulations to prevent match-fixing. The new rules also require them to furnish the Swedish Police Authority with all the information needed for inquiries into gambling-related offenses.

At the same time, the parliament dismissed 50+ propositions concerning gambling matters that had been initially referred to the Culture Committee in 2022. The parliament will evaluate new proposals forwarded by Sweden's conservative coalition government.

Some of the rejected policy motions revolve around categorizing esports as a sport, alterations to the license system in the country, and market channeling. Additionally, the parliament turned down regulations to allow lotteries for the public's advantage.

The Riksdag declined to include "esports abuse" as a classification on Spelpaus.se, Sweden's national self-exclusion service for problem gambling individuals. They also refused a proposition to regularize lotteries organized by political parties.

As expected, the Swedish Gambling Authority has approved Riksdag's recent regulations. The institution said the new laws represent the legislative body's present stance on the gaming and betting industries.