Nine more igaming supplier licences issued in Sweden

The new licences for suppliers become mandatory from July 1.

Sweden.- Spelinspektionen, the Swedish gaming regulator, has issued a further nine supplier licences following an initial batch of approvals a week ago. The new licensing regime for igaming suppliers comes into force on July 1.

Spelinspektionen announced earlier in the year that it would begin taking licence applications in advance in order to meet the July 1 deadline. It opened the application process on March 1.

The latest batch of five-year licences includes some big names and also lesser-known providers. Those approved include Arland Gesellschaft Fur Informationstechnologie Mbh and Everymatrix Software. Hacksaw received a licence along with two subsidiaries: Hacksaw Operations and Hacksaw Studios. The games providers Yggdrasil, Relax Gaming and Thunderkick also received licences, the latter for both its Swedish and Malta branches.

Spelinspektionen says that it has received 60 applications for the new supplier licences, which require payent of an SEK120,000 application fee. It believes the new regime will improve the channelling of consumers to the regulated sector by preventing suppliers from also supplying unlicensed operators.

Gustaf Hoffstedt, secretary-general of Swedish trade association Branscheförenigen för Onlinespel (BOS), has said that the industry is generally in favour of the move but had some doubts about whether it “will really be able to block the larger outflows from the Swedish licensing system”.