Swedish regulator supports ban on gambling with credit but wants more clarity

Spelinspektionen raised some concerns with the draft rules.

Sweden.- The Swedish gambling regulator Spelinspektionen has come out in support of the proposed ban on gambling with credit. However, it says more clarity is needed on rules and regulations.

Drafted by the Ministry of Finance, the new rules would ban all gambling operators from accepting bets financed by credit, including the use of credit cards. This expands on existing rules that ban operators from extending credit themselves. The proposed legislation also includes requirements for operators to devise action plans to discourage excessive gambling. Spelinspektionen would be charged with setting the requirements for these.

Spelinspektionen has said that it supports the move, having called for a ban itself. However, Spelinspektionen raised concerns about certain points, including a lack of analysis on the consequences for public benefit lotteries.

It noted that the wording suggests that non-profit bingo and lottery would not be covered by the ban because they do not accept payments by card, but the regulator noted that public lotteries do sell tickets on digital channels. It suggests that there should be measures to prevent such sales from being made using credit.

Ambiguity over definition of credit

It also raised concerns over an “ambiguity” in the definition of “credit” and whether it covers current accounts and debit cards with credit limits. It noted the lack of any inclusion of investigative duties for licensees or agents, which it says would fail to ensure checks on whether a debit card has a credit limit. It therefore called for the scope of the proposed ban regarding debit cards to be specified more clearly.

It also questioned the lack of detail on whether licensees and agents will have to introduce technical solutions or enter agreements with payment service providers in order to ensure enforcement of the ban. Several countries, including the UK, Norway, Australia and now Brazil, already have bans on gambling using credit cards. The UK ban came into force in 2020, and the Gambling Commission has hailed its success.