Sweden | CasinoClassic.com

Younger Swedes Self-Exclude from Gambling

Posted on June 1, 2019March 22, 2021 by Kat Orlov

Young Swedes exclude from gaming en masse
Voluntary exclusions are for a period determined by the customer
The regulator continues to warn wrongdoers about a possible license revocation

Swedish Youths Exclude from Online Gambling

At the turn of the year, Sweden legalized its online gambling industry, allowing licensed operators to start offering products in the country. Nearly half a year after the industry launched, some interesting numbers have surfaced in regards to self-exclusion.

Estimated half of all gamers are aged between 25 and 34, the latest data revealed. Spelinspektionen, the country’s gambling watchdog, posted the numbers on May 31. Along with the self-exclusion statistics, the regulator posted specific data about the state of gambling addiction in the country.

Based on Spelinspektionen data, over 35,000 today have opted into the voluntary exclusion criteria, with 40% of all participants being in the aforementioned age range. At the beginning of last month, 2,800 people rolled into the self exclusion scheme.

Sweden Curbs Its Gambling Addicts Successfully

Sweden has set an example of successfully curbing gambling addiction. After a BBC report established shortcomings in the United Kingdom’s own exclusion scheme, other countries have been wary not to replicate the mistakes of one of the largest iGaming markets in the world.

Meanwhile, the Nordic country has been using individuals’ BankID numbers to guarantee that no funds can ever be forwarded towards gambling outlets online. The exclusion scheme, Spelpaus.se,already applies to multiple verticals, including:

Lotteries
Slot games
Bingos

Players are allowed to exclude themselves for a period of one, three or six months. Still, there is an option allowing individuals to exclude for a custom period of time and the majority of people have opted for at least one year off the gaming grid.

All online casinos in Sweden have had to integrate Spelpaus.se as part of their license agreements. The Spelinspektionen has been very tough on wrongdoers. In Mach, Genesis Gaming and Paf Consulting were handed down stiff penalties over failure to enforce self-excluded players.

Apart from a penalty, the regulator issued a warning regarding the license of the operators. Spelinspektionen won’t hesitate to strip any wrongdoer from their privilege to operate gaming solutions in the country, the watchdog said in a statement.

No Bonuses, No Room for Addiction

Unlike other markets, Sweden doesn’t allow operators to introduce bonuses past the registration offer, which cuts operators from one of the time-tested methods to retain customers and urge them to stay on at the casinos longer.

Recently, Betway received a fine for extending additional goodies after the registration bonus, which the Spelinspektionen sanctioned accordingly. The watchdog has issued new warnings that breaking the terms and agreements of the license partnership would result in revocation of permits for wrongdoers.

William Hill Opens Sports Betting Book in Sweden

Posted on May 8, 2019March 22, 2021 by Carmen Thompson

William Hill successfully launches sports betting platform in Sweden
The re-branded Redbet cost WH $294.3 million
WH brings a variety of games, including Monopoly Live, Vegas Speed Roulette, and others

William Hill is the latest gambling & sports betting operator to make a bold entry into the newly-regulated Swedish market. The Kambi-powered platform is already accessible to Swedish bettors.

WilliamHill.se Opens to Swedish Players

Long in the making, William Hill is officially a sports betting operator in Sweden. The company took some time to finalize the acquisition of local assets and re-brand them, but five months after the legalization of the industry, the UK sports book has made it.

William Hill struck a deal with MRG Group, the owner of Evoke Gaming which in turn owned Redbet. The deal cost William Hill $294.3 million. WH International MG Patrick Jonker spoke to Affiliate Insider, noting on the importance of the deal and the opportunities that it created for the company:

This is an important milestone in William Hill’s International journey. Through fantastic teamwork between our teams in Malta, UK and Sweden we have released William Hill’s first new locally licensed offering since 2011.

The deal will also see a number of games introduced to the Swedish market, including Monopoly Live and Vegas Speed Roulette. All products will be accessible through the now Sweden-facing domain, WilliamHill.se.

Mr. Jonker commented that it was William Hill’s privilege to offer a state-of-the-art products both in terms of sports betting and live gaming to Swedish customers. WH is entering a highly-regulated market where even the best operators are at risk of breaking the tight regulations.

Regulations Are Tight in Sweden

Svenska Spel, the country’s de facto natural sports book & gaming company, was attacked by one of the watchdogs, Branschföreningen för onlinespel (BOS). Svenska Spel is accused of violating advertisement rules.

At the turn of 2019, casino and gambling ads continued to dominate Swedish Internet and TV programs, with LeoVegas and other brands barraging users with their campaigns at every commercial break.

As other companies face trouble in Sweden, William Hill will have to focus on uholding the recommended advertisemen practices recommended by the nation’s regulator, the Spelinspektionen.

Sweden’s Pathological Gamers Are Mostly Women

Posted on April 5, 2019March 22, 2021 by George Hansen

Women in Sweden constitute the majority of pathological gambling addicts
The number of people at risk from developing gambling addiction has fallen
Authorities demand more moderate advertisement efforts

Sweden’s gambling industry has exploded and amid the new gambling options’ arrival there has been interesting data trickling in about the rate of gambling participate and more specifically gambling addiction. As it turns out, women are more prone to gambling addiction than men.

In Sweden, Women Are More Likely to Be Gambling Addicts

Sweden has enjoyed an almost unchanged rate of gambling participation in 2018, but a new, and potentially worrying trend has emerged – the number of Swedish gambling addicts has risen and the main group to show signs of addiction has been women.

The county’s health authority, the Folkhalsomyndigheten, has published the results of a comprehensive study looking into the gambling habits of the nation in the pre-legalized market in 2018. More than 5,000 participants have been interviewed in the institution’s survey.

Sweden’ Regulator Releases 2018 Gaming Survey

The results revealed that 58% of all participants have exercised some form of real money gambling, ranging from casinos, to scratch cards, to other. When scaled for the broader public, the results of the survey established that estimated 225,000 people were at a serious risk of developing gambling addiction or at least a problematic gaming behavior.

60% of all pathological gambling addicts in Sweden are women, a new survey commissioned by the Folkhalsomyndigheten has found out.

Despite a potential increase in the number of actual addicts, the results were much better in terms of how many people are at actual risk of becoming addicts. For example, in 2015, Sweden had around 332,000 people who were close to crossing the thin red line.

Again, in 2015 there were 134,000 problem gamblers and their number was 101,000 in 2018, but the problem was insofar as the really bad cases of addiction lied. Pathological gamblers increased to 45,000 in 2018, which was a very significant uptick from 2015, 31,000. Of those, estimated 60% were women, which surpasses previous estimate that men tended to be more vulnerable to the practice.

The Reasons Behind Sweden’s Increasing Gambling Addiction

Sweden has long been a no-man’s land when it comes to gambling. Some experts have hurried up to blame the latest figures on the expanding gambling network in the country, but this wasn’t the case until January, 2019 when your correspondent was in Malmo and saw the official launch of the industry.

The warnings about the rising number of pathological gamers hasn’t fallen on deaf years, with Sweden’s Minister for Public Administration Ardalan Shekarabi vowing to act against the aggressive iGaming adds that have been appearing on television.

Companies have already been warned that they will have to observe fair advertising practice or risk getting their licenses suspended – something that Sweden is serious about and prepared to enact without delays.

However, there has still been some uncertainty about the exact meaning of what a less aggressive advertisement means. Authorities have called for moderation, but nobody has really pin-pointed what a moderate amount of advertisement is.

In a market that is in a constant competition for players, it’s unlikely that businesses will be able to sort it out between themselves.

Tag: Sweden