Purpose
The Swedish Gambling Authority began accepting license applications for a new law that came into effect on January 1, 2019. This new gambling law offers six different license types and enforces an age limit of 18-plus to play online and 21-plus to gain entry into a physical casino. This new legislation was put in place to create a safer market and promote customer protection and game security.
The Swedish Gambling Authority performs a number of important duties, including:
- Issuing operators with gambling permits and licenses for all types of gambling activities.
- Providing customers with tools and resources to maintain a transparent gambling market.
- Working to keep the Swedish gambling market safe.
- Granting permits for gambling machines, national lotteries, and restaurant casinos.
- Teaming up with law enforcement to minimize cases of illegal gambling activities.
- Ensuring that license holders remain in compliance with local laws and regulations.
- Offering information and training opportunities to operators.
Licenses
Like most online gambling regulators, the Swedish Gambling Authority requires operators to provide players with certain responsible gambling tools. License holders must offer information and tools to protect players from excessive gambling.
What makes the Swedish Gambling Authority unique from other regulators is how they handle bonuses. License holders are only permitted to offer bonuses to new players on their first gambling occasion, meaning a player can only earn one bonus the first time they play at a particular online casino.
The Swedish Gambling Authority offers six types of gambling licenses. These include:
1. State-owned games. This includes slot games, casino games, and some lottery games. This license is only available to state-owned companies.
2. Public purpose games. This includes some types of lotteries. This license is only available to non-profit organizations.
3. Commercial online games. This includes slot machines, casino games, and online bingo games. This license is available to any company that fulfills the criteria.
4. Betting. This includes all types of online and offline betting. This license is available to any company that fulfills the criteria.
5. Commercial land-based games. This includes card games and slot games outside a casino. This license is available to any company that can fulfill the criteria.
6. Cruise ship games. This includes slot machines and casino games. This license is available to ships on international waters.
Fair Gaming
While the Swedish Gambling Authority was only recently established in 2018, they have worked hard to initiate the necessary rules and regulations to ensure safe and fair gameplay in online casinos. The Authority is very strict in issuing licenses to online gambling sites. Like most regulators, the Swedish Gambling Authority also requires that online casinos maintain a fair gaming environment by using tools such as random number generators (RNGs) that have been certified by unbiased third parties.
Customer Protection
To meet the requirements for a license, an online casino must provide proof of proper cybersecurity for the safety of all player information and transaction details. Online casinos with a license from the Swedish Gambling Authority must also monitor players that show signs of engaging in irrational gambling behavior and must take necessary actions to remedy these types of situations. Under rules established by the Swedish Gambling Authority, online casinos must also offer options to limit gambling funds. Gambling websites can also not target their gaming services to any players under 18 years of age.
Limitations
While the Swedish Gambling Authority performs many functions, players do face certain limitations. The Swedish Gambling Authority will answer basic questions in regards to lottery legislation in Sweden. However, they will not provide detailed answers for specific questions in relation to lottery or gambling activities. In addition, the Authority will not resolve customer complaints about money that has been lost on placed bets or from online gaming machines. The Swedish Gambling Authority is also not able to supervise any lotteries that have been arranged abroad.
Get Started
The Swedish Gambling Authority is responsible for providing players with safe and fair gameplay across online casinos based in Sweden. The Authority is highly focused on enforcing rules and regulations that help limit the harmful effects of gambling on consumers. Unlicensed operators that do not go through the proper channels to receive a license from the Swedish Gambling Authority in accordance with the law will be shut out of the market.
Big changes are currently happening in the online Swedish gaming industry and the Swedish Gambling Authority is in charge of many of these new laws and regulations. There are already a number of casinos that have been issued a license from the Swedish Gambling Authority, such as Betfair, CasinoCasino, Cherry Casino, and DrueckGlueck.
