Reformed Swedish Gambling Act set for final vote this Thursday

Sweden’s Cultural Affairs Committee has detailed its support for the legislation to revamp the national gambling framework, introducing the new ‘Swedish Gambling Act’ replacing the 1994 Lottery Act and the Casino Act of 1999.

The committee has recommended no changes to the legislation, which will now be forwarded for a final debate and voting by Parliament set for Thursday 7 June.

Forwarding the Gambling Act’s mandate, Sweden’s Cultural Affairs Committee stated

“This proposed reform is long-awaited. The proposal means that today’s outdated monopoly will be replaced by a modern legislation that will include the whole of the expanding gambling market.

The aim is to create a gambling market with high consumer protection, high safety in the games and clear conditions for operating on the market through a licensing system where we open up the Swedish market for serious operators who want to take part and be responsible. Therefore, we close the system for actors that are not serious.”

Last April, Civil Affairs Minister Ardalan Shekarabi presented the long-awaited provisions of Sweden reformed gambling act, in which the government had primarily emphasised consumer protections and the monitoring of online gambling services.

Set to be fully implemented by January 2019, Swedish legislative stakeholders believe that the new Gambling Act will be Europe’s highest standard of policy, covering gambling enterprises.

Swedish gambling stakeholders, now enter a crucial H2 period, in which industry regulator Lotteriinspektionen will officially open its licensing window on 1 July.

In its latest industry update, Camilla Rosenberg Director General of Lotteriinspektionen detailed that the regulator had secured extra funding to expand resources and upgrade licensing systems to cope with the high demand of Swedish-market operator/stakeholder applications.