Sweden considers online casino advertising ban
The government continues to study the possibility of banning online casino advertising in Sweden.
Sweden.- Sweden’s government revealed on Wednesday that it would consider an advertising ban by online casinos and other forms of gambling. This is part of an attempt to fight a recent increase in addiction.
According to Minister for Public Administration, Ardalan Shekarabi, recently-introduced measures have not covered enough territory for online gambling advertising to be reduced. He said that a commission would put forward its own recommendations.
The country has seen a significant increase in online gambling from foreign companies in the last few years. As it grew its size, the regulator tightened rules for gambling firms at the start of the current year and called on the industry to come up with a code of conduct to protect vulnerable players.
“There is scope for the commissioner to recommend a total or partial ban on gambling advertising,” Shekarabi said.
Last month, the Spelinspektionen, Sweden’s gambling regulatory authority, revealed that it was expecting to set out a plan to regulate advertising. The regulator said that many people have asked about current laws and how moderate advertisement should be and that the term moderate will be clarified in the long term. However, the regulator said that for companies that want to comply with the law, the ambiguity of the word “moderate” should not be a problem.
Moreover, it was set that gaming companies that don’t follow the requirement for moderation in gaming advertisement take a great risk. “The Gaming Inspectorate’s sanctions are reverse-looking, which means that the Gaming Inspectorate can, with the help of the Gaming Act, impose backward sanctions if it is established in the Consumer Agency’s supervision that a company has violated the moderation requirement,” the regulator said.
In case of a serious violation of the law, the gaming license could be revoked, or if it is deemed sufficient, a warning call is notified. The latter could also be combined with a penalty fee. “A violation of the requirement of moderation is typically considered to be serious. The sanction that may be applicable in an individual case depends on several different factors, such as how long the infringement has been going on. The licensee’s actions in the supervisory matter of the Consumer Agency can also be of importance,” said the statement from the Swedish authority.
