Swedish regulator points finger at black market Curaçao companies

Companies based in Curaçao and skin betting firms are responsible for the bulk of unlicensed gaming activity in Sweden, according to the country’s gambling regulator.

The Spelinspektionen, the Swedish Gambling Authority (SGA), has published a report outlining the extent of black market activity targeting Sweden. The report is in part based on a survey conducted last year.

According to the SGA, Sweden’s channelling rate – the number of people betting via legal, licenced gaming firms – stands at 86%, though the regulator estimates that only a small number of Swedes actually bet with unlicensed sites.

“It is a relatively small group of players, probably fewer than five percent of the total number of players, who demand games that do not have a Swedish gaming license,” an SGA statement read.

Sweden’s tough adjustment

Sweden re-regulated its betting sector in 2019, ending a long-existing monopoly held by Svenska Spel. This state-owned company continues to trade in the market, going up against the likes of LeoVegas and its sportsbook expekt, bet365, Betway, William Hill, Betsson and Bethard.

These licensed companies are having to compete with unlicensed firms, however, the SGA says, though again as stated above the majority of Swedes appear to be betting legally. The main originating destination for these firms is over 8,700 kilometres away on the Dutch-held Caribbean island of Curaçao, the SGA states.

According to its data, around 45% of all traffic to unlicensed gambling sites in 2024 was directed towards companies licensed in a ‘third country’. Of this figure, 38% of traffic went to Curaçao while the remaining 5% was towards the Indian Ocean island of Anjouan.

This is not the first time that the Swedish regulator has taken offence at the activities of Curaçao-based and licenced business, and similar developments have played out in other countries.

Last year, for example, the regulator issued a ban to Curaçao licensed firm Small House BV, accusing the company of targeting Swedish customers without a licence. In other countries, Curaçao firms are also a source of controversy, such as in the UK where partnerships between the likes of BC Game and Leicester City FC have come under scrutiny.

The Swedish Gambling Authority estimates that in 2023 and 2024, internet traffic from Sweden to unlicensed gambling sites that offered skin betting accounted for 49 and 41 percent of total internet traffic to unlicensed gambling sites, respectively. A few skin betting websites have very high internet traffic from Sweden.

SGA calls for new powers to match unlicensed firms

Curaçao may account for a large number of the firm’s targeting Swedish players but it would be wrong to lay all the blame solely on companies from the Dutch overseas territory. More broadly companies that offer skin betting account for the largest percentage of unlicensed traffic.

SGA data shows that skin betting firms – which enable customers to bet using virtual items that can be resold for physical cash – accounted for 49% and 41% of all traffic to unlicensed gaming sites in 2023 and 22024, respectively.

Lastly, some of the unlicensed activity comes from closer to home, the SGA says. Around 13% of internet traffic in 2024 went to unlicensed gaming sites based in the EU, according to its data.

This has been a problem faced by neighbouring countries as well, with Norway and Finland hitting out at Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) licensed companies for allegedly targeting customers in their respective markets in recent years.

The final two forms of unlicensed activity are completely unlicensed firms, which the SGA accuses of marketing ‘aggressively through social media and independent affiliates’ in actions which pose ‘particularly serious risks for Swedish consumers’. However, the authority estimates that only 6% of traffic from Sweden goes to sites that it has actively put banning orders on.

Some six years on from regulating its betting market in 2019, Sweden continues to face difficulties in transitioning from the monopoly to multi-licence model system. This has been noted by other market stakeholders, like ATG, the operator of the country’s totalizator horse racing betting system.

In its own report published last month, ATG put the Swedish channelisation rate at between 69%-82% – below the SGA”s recently stated figure of 86%, but it is worth noting that both fall below the government’s actual target of 90%.

To remedy this issue, the SGA argues that it needs new powers to be able to intervene against gambling sites that do not have a Swedish licence. This would require a change to the Swedish Gambling Act expanding the SGA’s powers, with its current remit only allowing to to intervene against gambling sites that target Swedes via marketing or have Swedish-oriented sites.

“We welcome the ongoing investigation into the expanded scope of application, which is to be reported no later than 17 September this year,” said Spelinspektionen’s Director General, Camilla Rosenberg.

“Despite the problems with the current scope of application, we believe that our interventions, where possible, are important and have an effect.

“It is therefore important that we continue our work to combat illegal gambling even during the ongoing investigation of the regulations.”