SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Swedish gambling watchdog, Spelinspektionen, has issued a warning about the need to comply to current betting laws after a number of operators were found to be offering betting opportunities on football fixtures featuring players under the age of 18.
Swedish law strictly prohibits the wagering of bets on matches featuring players or athletes who are not yet of a legal gambling age – which is currently 18.
The game in question relates to a match that had taken place between IFK Göteborg and AIK in Sweden’s top-tier club competition, Allsvenska.
“The regulations aim to protect the integrity of youth sports and is of importance to prevent people under the age of 18 being those looking to manipulate games, so-called match fixing,” Spelinspektionen said.
“Spelinspektionen is very serious about such [offences] and has therefore initiated supervision of several companies regarding betting on players under the age of 18.”
While Spelinspektionen did not specify the operators that had been found to be offering the betting opportunities, it was emphasised that each of the operators in question would be subject to special supervision from the regulator to ensure that they would not commit similar offences.
The regulator has recently clamped down on “excessive gambling advertising” in Sweden after detailing plans to focus upon the formalisation of a cooperation deal with the country’s Konsumentverket consumer agency.
The new plans will split responsibilities between the two bodies, as well as formalise the forms of information exchange and consultation.
