BOS Hopes New Gov Would Ease up Regulations

Swedish vote counters will soon announce the results of September 11’s elections. According to the latest reports as of the time of this writing, the right-wing has a slight edge over its competition. This means that Sweden might soon have a new right-leaning government that may lift certain gambling industry restrictions.

Sweden’s Incumbent Government Was Only Somewhat Caring

One of the possible outcomes is a coalition between the Moderate Party, the Sweden Democrats, the Christian Democrats and the Liberal Party. With 175 seats in the parliament, this coalition will have the majority it needs to form a government.

Gustaf Hoffstedt, secretary general of the Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling, Branschföreningen för Onlinespel (BOS), said the gaming industry would welcome a new government and hopes for one that would ease up certain regulations. While the current government paved the way for online gaming and abolished the monopoly on gambling, it also hurt the industry by imposing a deposit cap at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition, Hoffstedt admitted that the incumbent gambling minister he never quite took care of the industry as a whole. Hoffstedt noted that the minister was on friendly relations with Svenska Spel and ATG, the former monopolies but never provided the same treatment to foreign businesses.

BOS’ secretary general accused the incumbent government of favoritism and pointed out that Svenska Spel retained its land-based monopoly, while also competing with other brands in the iGaming space. According to Hoffstedt, Svenska Spel’s online gambling brand should be spun off from the company to ensure a fairer market.

BOS Hopes the New Government Would Tend to the Gaming Industry

BOS hopes that the new government will rethink the current government’s plans to put restrictions on gambling advertisements. The adjusted moderation approach to gambling advertisement is something that was criticized for being vague and uncertain. The gambling union hopes that the new government will either abandon these plans completely or at least improve them.

Meanwhile, the BOS has its fingers crossed about the future of bonuses in Sweden. Right now, operators can only offer players a single bonus on sign-up.  Luckily, the Moderate Party agrees that these rules should be relaxed, which sparks further hopes within the industry.

Hoffstedt concluded that he hopes the new government will take an approach that is more beneficial to the industry. However, he said that nothing is certain yet and that the industry should wait and see what happens next.