Sweden draws the line on unlicensed gambling operators

The “Lottery Law” is a new set of amendments drafted by the Swedish regulator along with the country's Ministry of Finance to crack down on unlicensed online gambling operators targeting consumer in Sweden.

The new codes were presented to the Swedish Parliament last week for review. They will hold both domestic and foreign operators liable for violations of the new advertising standards, designed to be adhere more closely to European Union competition laws, which the Lotteriinspektionen asserts do not target foreign-based operators.

The legal adaptation was spurred in large part by last year's decline in market performance figures for Sweden's state-owned online gambling operator Svenska Spel. As a result, the Swedish monopoly complained of difficult in competing domestically with well-funded foreign operators, rendering prevailing advertising laws and practices futile in protecting domestic gambling interests from the online marketing activities of foreign operators entering the national market without Swedish licenses.

According to Swedish news, foreign investors last year invested £200 million in online gambling products advertisements to Swedish consumers, penetrating the Swedish market by advertising with international media owners as well as exploiting loopholes in EU competition standards.

The penalties under the new laws will be heavy fines and up to six months imprisonment for any foreign mangers who are found guilty of “intentionally and unlawfully” promoting “participation in a lottery.”