Svenska Spel to stop online casino ads

The company is in favour of a total ban on online casino advertising and decided to cancel its marketing for the segment.

Sweden.- Sweden’s gambling industry has gone through major changes since the starting of 2019. At the end of March, gambling trade associations set a code to tackle excessive gambling advertising. Svenska Spel, Sweden’s leading online operator, has pledged to cancel all of its marketing for online gambling.

Civil and Consumer Minister Ardalan Shekarabi said that he isn’t satisfied with the action plan for less aggressive advertising that trade associations introduced at the end of March. Spelbranschens Riksförbund (SPER) and Branschföreningen för Onlinespel (BOS) launched the new code of conduct for members to address excessive advertising in the newly-regulated online market. The new self-regulatory controls kicked off on April 1.

The code regulates specifically on nine key topics, starting with getting licensees to be accurate on their marketing strategies. Another requirement will be to make clear that there is no guarantee of winning and must avoid encouraging excessive betting. Furthermore, the code demands licensees to make very clear when punters may take advantage of bonus promotions.

Kindred, LeoVegas and Betsson talked to local news outlet Di and complained about Swedish ATG strongly increasing its advertisement investment.

Joakim Mörnefält, Director of Communications at Svenska Spel, told news outlet Resumé that they reached the decision to stop all marketing for its online casino in all media channels last week. This was based on the debate about gaming advertisement and new facts by the Public Health Authority.

“We are in favour of risk classification and harder rules for the most dangerous games, including online casinos. It is something we have told Ardalan Shekarabi that we want to include in the law. For this reason, we have decided to stop all our own advertising for our online casino in 2019. It is even so that we are in favour of a ban on online casino advertising,” said Mörnefält.

Svenska Spel’s Director of Communications also invited Kindred, Betsson, LeoVegas and other licensed gaming companies to follow the company’s steps. “We hope that they will follow our example and end the campaigns for their online casinos.”