SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Sweden’s Spelinspektionen has contacted a number of payment service providers issuing a warning them to not conduct business with unlicensed gambling operators.
The regulator emphasised that payment companies which work alongside unlicensed operators were violating the country’s Gaming Act. Spelinspektionen stated that working alongside such operators could result in unfair competition and a loss of tax revenues across the regulated market.
The letter explained: “Payment service providers operating in the gaming market cannot transfer bets or winnings to and from unlicensed gaming companies, which contribute to the increased likelihood of money laundering, social damages and unfair competition.
“In a regulated market, it is important to protect license holders from unlicensed competition which are not authorised to operate in the Swedish market. Payment service providers that mediate bets or profits to and from unlicensed gaming companies contribute to unfair competition for the gaming companies licensed under the Gaming Act.”
Sweden recently opened up its market to private online operators at the start of this year, and has since issued stringent controls regarding compliance and regulations. The regulator went on to explain in the letter that unlicensed operators were not subject to the country’s money laundering and terrorist financing regulations.
While Spelinspektionen is able to enforce regulations for its licensees, it cannot impact operational functions for those that do not have a licence. Websites without a licence do not have access to the Spelpaus.se self-exclusion database, meaning they cannot offer players the ability to block access to igaming sites.
