The Swedish government has launched a review of the country’s Gambling Act to strengthen measures against illegal operators.
Announced on February 20, the investigation is set to conclude by September 17, 2025. Marcus Isgren, chairman of the Swedish Board of Consumer Complaints, has been appointed as the lead investigator. The review will explore stricter policies to curb unauthorized gambling sites operating in Sweden.
Niklas Wykman, the minister of financial markets, mentioned:
We will do this by amending the Gambling Act so that it becomes more appropriate. This is one of the single most important measures for a safer and healthier gambling market.
Sweden’s gambling regulator, Spelinspektionen, reported in October that the market’s channelisation rate was 86% in 2023, based on player surveys and estimates from H2 Capital. This suggests that 14% of player traffic is directed toward illegal operators. However, gambling trade body Branschföreningen för Onlinespel (BOS) and monopoly operator ATG estimate a lower channelisation rate, between 70% and 80%.
ATG’s October report highlighted a tenfold increase in traffic to unlicensed gambling sites since 2019. The Swedish government’s recent decision to review the Gambling Act appears to be a direct response to an open letter from BOS on February 18, which called for closing regulatory loopholes that allow illegal operators to target Swedish players.
BOS secretary general Gustaf Hoffstedt pointed out that under current law, unlicensed operators are only restricted from offering gambling when using the Swedish language or processing transactions in SEK. To bypass these restrictions, many black-market operators provide services in English and accept Euros, which still appeals to Swedish players due to their high English proficiency.
In the letter, Hoffstedt urged the government to expand the scope of the Gambling Act to prohibit operators from passively accepting Swedish players. He welcomed the government’s decision to review the law, stating that since the 2019 market reregulation, unlicensed operators have continued to attract Swedish customers, undermining the licensed market.
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