The Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling (BOS) has responded to a recent report, posted today by Sweden’s National Audit Office, which has drawn focus on the nation’s gambling regulator, Spelinspektionen.  

An inadequate regulatory oversight of the gambling industry is underlined by the report, to which the BOS has responded by saying it “welcome(s) that the National Audit Office also advocates extended criminalisation of unlicensed gambling.”  

Indeed, the report specifically details that Spelinspektionen does not appropriately govern all unlicensed gambling operators within the nation’s market.  

This is because, as per the current scope of application detailed under the Gambling Act, unlicensed organisations that offer games in English and with the Euro currency are deemed to be legal. However, unlicensed companies that offer games in the Swedish language, with the Swedish krona, are defined as illegal.  

Therefore, the BOS has stated that it agrees with the National Audit Office’s recommendation of a formal review of the Gambling Act, specifically pertaining to the scope of application section of the law.

Gustaf Hoffstedt, Secretary General of the BOS, stated the following: “That today's gambling legislation allows such extensive parts of the gambling market to operate without a license is unsustainable. In front of both the current and previous governments, we have advocated an expansion of the Gambling Act's scope of application. 

“In this way, it would become generally illegal for gambling companies that lack a Swedish gambling license to accept Swedish gambling consumers, and as a consequence these companies must geoblock Sweden.

"It is very welcome that the National Audit Office reasons in a similar way in the report published today."