Svenksa Spel: problem gambling among young people falls under deposit limits

Svenska Spel introduced new deposit limits for under 20s at the start of the year.

Sweden.- The state-controlled gambling operator Svenska Spel has reported that the rate of problem gambling among young people has fallen by two thirds since it brought in deposit limits for 18- and 19-year-old players at the start of the year.

The operator introduced a SEK 1,000 (€96) per month deposit limit for players of those ages in January as part of its Spelkoll Plus (“Game Check Plus”) initiative for young people.

It says the number of players of those ages that exhibited signs of problem gambling risk has since fallen to just 3 per cent. It’s also reported that the proportion of under 20s depositing the full SEK 1,000 has dropped from 21 per cent to 14 per cent.

Kajsa Nylander, Svenska Spel’s head of sustainability, said: “We thought that the measures would have an effect, but that hardly dared to hope that effect would be so great.

“SpelkollPlus also means that we prioritise young adults in preventive conversations. Here, the young customers are contacted by a specially trained care communicator who, among other things, gives personal advice on how they can set limits for their gambling.”

Svenska Spel has also brought in income checks for those aged between 20 and 24 that wish to deposit more than €5,000 a month.

In March, the Swedish gambling regulator Spelinspektionen published its interim report on the impact of the country’s temporary online casino restrictions which were imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic. It found that the impact of the measures was impossible to determine but still said it would support their use in the future.

Sweden imposed a SEK 5,000 (€471) deposit limit and SEK 100 (€10) bonus limit from July 2020 until November last year. It also placed a limit on login time for online gaming. The measures were introduced due to fears that Sweden’s Covid-19 lockdown could cause an increase in problem gaming.

While Spelinspektionen initially criticised the measures as unworkable, it later said it would not oppose a reintroduction of limits in the wake of a rise in Covid-19 cases earlier this year. The plan to reintroduce online casino deposit limits was eventually abandoned, but now the regulator says it will support their use “in the event of future crisis”.

See also: Swedish ombudsman loses appeal to examine Svenska Spel TV contract