Plans Released for the Liberalization of Swedish Gambling Laws

The proposal for consideration of the new Swedish gambling laws is scheduled to take place in Autumn, 2017.

By 2018, Sweden gambling laws might undergo a considerate change as Ardalan Shekarabi, Sweden’s Minister of Public Administration prepares a new licensing system. According to online gambling news in Sweden, this move is the response to the legal actions of the European Commission against Sweden’s rigorous gambling regulations.

The answer to the European Commission’s criticism to Swedish gambling laws

In 2014, the European Commission objected to the country’s constraint to change the rules applied to online poker and internet betting in Sweden. The current laws are said to interfere with the law of the free movement of services in the European Union. As the Commission put it, Sweden is “imposing restrictions on the organisation and promotion of online betting services in a way which is inconsistent with EU law”. Back then, the Commission presented two specific cases proving that the country is partial when issuing licenses.

Shekarabi’s changes to Swedish gambling laws are scheduled to arrive before the upcoming general election in 2018. The preparation starts this autumn with thorough analysis of the current Swedish gambling laws and the examination of the planned changes. Back in February, there were some rumors about Shekarabi planning the changes to regulate online gambling in Sweden, but the government denied these claims.

Will the new Swedish gambling laws attract remote operators?

“Sweden’s gambling legislation has traditionally been and still is very disconnected from the realities and demands of the market,” wrote Gustaf Hoffstedt, secretary general of the Swedish Association of Online Gambling Operators. Hoffstedt finds that the most important question is whether the “the licences will be attractive enough for companies to want to apply for one.” Today, the Swedish gambling laws favor only state-owned and domestic online gambling operators.