Clarification needed over extension of Swedish online casino deposit cap

The national gambling regulator has called for clarification from the government on the possible extension of the temporary deposit cap for Swedish online casinos.

Sweden.- The national gambling regulator, Spelinspektionen, has asked the government to provide clarification on the proposed extension of the country’s temporary SEK5,000 (€492) cap on online casino deposits.

The measure was initially introduced last July due to the Covid-19 pandemic and was set to last six months. It has already been extended once and the government has now proposed extending the cap until November.

Spelinspektionen responded that it believes the extension makes sense considering that the Covid-19 pandemic continues to have a major impact, but it said that the rules needed to be made clearer due to loopholes that had emerged.

It comes after an administrative court in Linköping overturned a sanction issued against Kindred over a loophole that allowed players to spend more than the SEK5,000 limit on casino games.

The Swedish gambling regulator has appealed against that decision, but it said that if upheld, the Linköping case would cause the deposit cap to “lose its significance as a consumer protection provision” since operators that offer betting products as well as casino could “easily circumvent” the limit. 

Director general Camilla Rosenberg said: “There are strong reasons to clarify the meaning of the provision in the memorandum which now forms the basis for the proposal for continued validity of regulation.

“The provision does not prevent a player who has raised his deposit limit to an amount that exceeds SEK 5,000 to again be offered commercial online games if the deposit limit is later lowered to a maximum of SEK 5,000 per week, even in that case the player has made actual deposits to his gaming account that exceed SEK 5,000. 

“The question is important for the licensees who offer both online gaming and betting.”