National Audit Office begins review of Swedish gambling regulator

The National Audit Office had announced the audit in August.

Sweden.- The National Audit Office (Riksrevisionen) has commenced its audit of Sweden’s gambling regulator, Spelinspektionen. Announced in August, the audit was called to probe the effectiveness of SGA’s supervision of Sweden’s regulated gambling market since its launch in January 2019.

The start of the audit comes after ATG, the Swedish horseracing betting operator, raised concerns about the extent of blackmarket gambling in Sweden. Earlier this month, it published the results of a study it commissioned, which found that the rate of traffic to unlicensed sites has increased ten times since 2019.

ATG says its research shows that channelisation rates to regulated online gambling as a whole were between 70 and 82 per cent in Q3. Online sports betting channelisation was 88 per cent, while the rate for online casino was 74%. The figures are based on an assumption that the average spend per visit at unlicensed sites is 10 times higher than at licensed ones. ATG estimates that unlicensed gambling market is worth between SEK3.4bn and SEK6.7bn (€585.6m) a year.

ATG claimed that Infiniza Limited and North Point Management Ltd made up 60% of illegal gambling traffic in Q3. It said the most popular site was Infiniza’s Unlimitcasino.com, with 150,890 visits in Q3, followed by Infiniza’s Refuelcasino.com (122,135 visits) and North Point’s Quick.bet (108,290).

The Riksrevisionen says it will investigate how Spelinspektionen has adapted to meet its obligations to supervise the market. It will also consider if the current system is protecting consumers. It said the sector generates SEK6bn in tax but that problem gambling costs society SEK9bn.

Riksrevisionen said: “Expectations for the Swedish Gambling Authority’s supervision are high in the new, reregulated system. At the same time, the authority’s conditions for carrying out supervision have changed.

“Before the reregulation, Svenska Spel, ATG and the four largest national lotteries accounted for over 95 per cent of turnover on the regulated market. After reregulation, a large number of new actors have been added, and today the regulator has supervisory responsibility for approximately 600 licence and permit holders. The fact that the legislation is largely new also means that there is a lack of practice.”

It said it will publish its findings in September 2024.