Sweden’s new government should ensure Svenska Spel’s commercial betting and casino unit is divested in 2023. That’s the call from Swedish online gambling trade association Branschföreningen för Onlinespel (BOS) which maintains that the state should not participate in the commercial gambling market and must instead focus on setting rules for the gambling industry.
Sweden Must Not Participate in Commercial Gambling
In an op-ed on Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, BOS Secretary General Gustaff Hoffstedt said the time has come for the state to get rid of Svenska Spel’s Sport & Casino unit, reasserting that the state-owned entity’s continued presence in the commercial gambling market is against the law and will only jeopardize the government’s gambling objectives.
He said competition is currently fierce among the 70 licensed commercial gambling firms and would remain so even without the state’s participation.
Ruling Coalition Must Fulfill Promise
BOS said there are high expectations that Svenska Spel will be split into two individual entities – monopoly gaming (lottery and keno) and competitive gaming – now that Sweden is under new leadership. The move has the backing of the Moderate Party which leads the newly-formed center-right coalition government that also includes the Democrats (which also support Svenska Spel’s split) and the Liberals.
Hoffstedt said the Moderates and the Democrats should make good on their promise to split Svenska Spel, and that must be done in 2023.