New Swedish gambling bill enters parliament

The new laws are expected to come into effect in April.

Sweden.- The parliament of Sweden has begun evaluating a bill that proposes new customer protections for gambling. The bill proposes higher penalty fees for gambling operators that breach Sweden’s Money Laundering Act, bringing them into line with the penalties for breaches of the Gambling Act. 

Meanwhile, operators will be able to access potential customers’ personal financial and health data with the objective of preventing problem gambling. Players will be required to give written confirmation for telephone gambling. The rules are expected to enter force in April.

This week, Spelinspektionen, Sweden’s gambling regulator, issued a SEK2m (€180,000) penalty and a warning against Svenska Spel’s Casino Cosmopol. It found that the land-based casino brand had breached anti-money laundering (AML) rules.

The regulator said that an investigation that it began in November 2021 found that Casino Cosmopol had failed in know-your-customer procedures. It also found “previous shortcomings” in relation to Sweden’s Money Laundering Act.

Casino Cosmopol accepted the findings but emphasised that they related to past issues. It noted that it has since introduced player registration for gaming machines and tables and lower thresholds for intervention. It said it had also improved staff training on AML measures and had increased the number of staff dedicated to monitoring.