Swedish regulator wants law change to access payment data

The Swedish Gaming Inspectorate has called for a change in the law to force banks to disclose information on gambling payments.

Sweden.- The national gaming regulator is calling for an amendment to Sweden’s Gaming Act to gain greater powers to force financial institutions to reveal payment information.

The Swedish Gaming Inspectorate (Spelinspektionen) has had the right to block payments to illegal gaming sites since the current act was introduced in January 2019, but it has so far made no use of those powers.

It says that’s largely because banking secrecy prevents it from being able to identify payments going to offshore operators. 

It now wants legislators to change the law to force banks to disclose information about payments made to and from gaming sites that do not have a Swedish licence.

Robert Larsson, Unit Manager for Responsible Gambling and Money Laundering, told, Sveriges Radio, Sweden’s state radio broadcaster: “This type of case is generally difficult to investigate, it is difficult to obtain detailed and relevant information. 

“In order for us to quickly and easily obtain the information we need, we have proposed a clearer regulation which means that we will have the right to receive this type of information without the hindrance of bank secrecy.”

Larsson said Spelinspektionen had yet to make a single use of its powers to ask the country’s administrative courts to block sites because it was generally unable to identify payments.

In cases where it had identified payments, banks had refused to give more information, he said. 

He mentioned an instance in which Spelinspektionen had identified a bank giro number but the bank, Bankgirot, had refused to disclose the account the payment was connected to. 

He said: “But it is clear that if there are ambiguities about the current regulations, a clarification of what applies is welcome.”

Last month Spelinspektionen recognised that it was powerless to enforce Sweden’s new online gambling deposit limits across multiple operators, meaning that players can effectively reach the limit several times over.