Swedish Gambling Regulation Reform on Hold

As many have expected the regulation of online gambling in Sweden is now officially on pause. The initial explanation for the decision was the fact that Sweden needs to complete their general budgetary negotiations in Parliament, which take priority over everything else. The spring budget hearing is set to take place in April and all pending issues will be on hold until then said Ardalan Shekarabi, who is the Minister for Public Administration of Sweden.

Overall many issues still remain to follow through with regulation of Sweden, which happens to be a very gambling friendly market and has plenty of online casino operators providing services there without a license. Such issues include the opinion that Swedish people are not yet ready for the vast exposure to gambling that the large operators would bring by means of massive marketing on all media’s such at TV commercials, sponsorships and more.

A cap on online gambling advertising has to be implemented but is yet to be invented as it will take some complexity and precision to give a fair share to everyone while keeping the Swedish people from getting over exposed.

Many companies such as Unibet have been planning their expansion plans in Sweden following the promise a regulation would be implemented but for now they will have to switch their sights elsewhere and keep Sweden in the back of their minds. Some say that this waiting period can last until 2019 and if that is the case then there is plenty of time to explore other options in the mean time for online gaming operators.