Advertising complaints brought against ‘bad actor’ Svenska Spel

Svenska Spel has been reported to the Swedish Broadcasting Review Board, for allegedly breaching new laws in relation to betting/gambling advertising standards.

The broadcast complaint has been filed by Swedish online gambling trade body – Branschföreningen för Onlinespel (BOS), who states that Svenska Spel has failed to provide responsible gambling information in relation to its Triss, Keno and Lotto advertising schedule.

In its complaint, BOS underlines that Svenska Spel appears to have treated advertising of ‘soft games’ such as Triss, Keno and Lotto as exempt from having to display responsible gambling communications – a mandatory requirement under Sweden’s new gambling framework.

BOS further details that Svenska Spel has promoted its soft games inventory during ‘morning schedules’, on sponsored TV programmes popular with family audiences.

“The products of Triss, Keno and Lotto are aggressively marketed in commercial TV channels as a natural part of the program schedule in the morning sofas and family programs without any connection to gaming responsibility information” states BOS General Secretary Gustaf Hoffstedt.

Further complaints, see BOS accuse Svenska Spel of being a ‘bad actor’ by exploiting its position as the state-owned operator, securing favourable advertising inventory promoting its gambling services as soft games.

“All players in the Swedish gaming market must realize that the old rules of the monopoly market are over. Pre-funded TV shows with only one message – Win money! – is marketing games about money and should thus be regulated and judged on the basis of the new game law’s requirements and intentions”. Gustaf Hoffstedt adds.