Signing up at unlicensed online casinos is definitely not a wise or safe move for any player, irrespective of which country they live in. Unlicensed casinos don’t have to comply with the country’s gambling regulations in which they are operating in and this immediately puts players at risk. These unlicensed casinos offer BankID & Trustly but don’t even bother to implement any responsible gambling policies to protect vulnerable groups, minors, and problem gamblers.
Under these circumstances, there is nothing to stop unlicensed casinos from vanishing with players’ deposits or refusing to payout winnings; and governments cannot rush to the rescue of the victims. Moreover, unlicensed operators suck away the wealth of the country as they accept real money bets, but don’t pay taxes on their profits. Governments, therefore, take every measure possible to curb unlicensed gambling operators.
Although regulation is the best way to stop illegal gambling, even the toughest regulatory framework cannot completely stop unlicensed casinos from targeting players in a regulated market.
Let us now see how Sweden deals with illegal gambling and unlicensed online casinos and how far it is successful.
Sweden’s Strategy against Illegal Gambling
The Swedish Gambling Authority has noted that unlicensed gambling has serious consequences for the state as well as its residents. In addition to not paying taxes to the government, illegal operators do not protect players the way licensed operators are required to do.
The authority admits that it is very difficult to identify unlicensed online casinos targeting Swedish players. In order to do so, it checks whether an online casino allows players to play in Swedish Kronor, maintains a website in the Swedish language, offers support numbers with Swedish codes, and directly or indirectly target Swedish players.
The regulator says that most unlicensed gambling sites that accept Swedish players have their headquarters in a foreign country and that it is difficult to stop them from accepting Swedish players. However, the authority has decided to take the following steps to fight against them:
- Take the help of local law enforcement agencies along with the Financial Supervisory Authority and the Swedish Consumer Authority.
- Sign agreements with gambling regulators in different jurisdictions
- Take the help of licensed operators
- Administer warnings to illegal operators and level fines at them
- Get court orders to block financial transactions between players and illegal operators
- Revoke licenses of licensed operators that directly or indirectly control unlicensed gambling businesses targeting Swedish players
To curb unlicensed casinos, the Swedish gambling regulator has issued notices to online payment processors, reminding them that serving unlicensed online casinos is against Swedish laws.
In its notice to its licensed payment processors, the regulator pointed out that they would be putting Swedish players at risk of problem gambling if they processed payments between Swedish players and unlicensed gambling sites.
The authority stated in its notice that unlicensed gambling sites have no way of knowing if players have opted for Spelpaus, the Swedish self-exclusion tool, as they do not implement it. They would thus be accepting players at risk for problem gambling, and payment providers would not only be jeopardising these players’ wellbeing, but also promoting unlicensed gambling.
The authority informed payment processors that, by serving unlicensed operators, they would not only be destroying the positive effects of the state’s anti money laundering measures, but also generating unfair competition for its licensed online casinos.
Is Sweden Successful?
Taking into consideration a variety of factors, Sweden does not appear to be 100% successful in dealing with illegal gambling within its jurisdiction. According to its own figures, 85% – 87% of the gambling market is taken up by licensed operators and the rest of by the grey and black market. To make matters worse, Swedish players seem to prefer unlicensed online casinos as they keep searching for casinos without a Swedish license on Google and other search engines.
Moreover, Sweden could be imposing too many restrictions on its licensed operators, and this could lead to illegal operators grabbing a larger share of its gambling market. The country’s online gambling trade association has warned that imposing marketing restrictions for gambling sites licensed in Sweden and preventing them from providing popular gambling products and services could have a negative effect on the country’s regulated online gambling market. By imposing such restrictions, the government could be actually giving away its gambling market to unlicensed casinos.
You may be wondering why Swedish players prefer unlicensed casinos despite gambling being regulated in their country. There could be three major reasons.
First, they may have self-excluded from licensed Swedish online casinos through Spelpaus for a longer time than they actually wanted to. Eager to start playing again and unable to login to their Swedish online casino accounts, they may be looking for unlicensed options that do not implement Spelpaus. Second, Swedish laws do not permit as many promotions and bonuses as unlicensed casinos are allowed to offer. And finally, Swedish players may be getting frustrated with the three-second delay between spins while playing slots.