The new Swedish legislation and the old have both hit the gambling newsstands this week with force: a long-standing legal dispute was resolved, finally, while several of the new laws set to take effect at the start of 2019 came under scrutiny at last week’s Scandinavian Gaming Show in Stockholm.
Under discussion at the show was the proposed “duty of care” law that covers all operators. The law is intended to ensure that operators work to minimise and help support and resolve cases of problem gambling and includes specific actionable requirements such as monitoring all player behaviour.
Also subject to some debate was the issue of marketing in the gambling sector. Under the new laws, operators will be required to avoid marketing to those under eighteen and to avoid aggressive or unsolicited advertising.
Touching on existing Swedish law, a five-year legal dispute was resolved this week by the Swedish Court of Appeal in favour of the regulator Lotteriinspektionen over the imposition of a small (roughly €5,000 equivalent) fine which the regulator had imposed on two licensed sites for linking to unlicensed international firms via links on their websites.
The firms, Aftonbladet and Expressen, had filed an appeal citing freedom of expression and denying that the links constituted advertising, an argument that the appeals court rejected. The court furthermore found that Sweden’s advertising restrictions do not violate European Union law.
“We assume that anyone who violates the promotion ban by linking to or promoting foreign gaming sites now ends with this,” Lotteriinspektionen Director General Camilla Rosenberg said in a statement.
Despite the small sum at issue, the case carries the weight of precedent. Such advertising restrictions for international operators unlicensed in Sweden proper will persist under the new laws.
