Sweden's Operator Rolls Out Self-Exclusion Tool

Sweden's newly-instated gambling regulator, Spelinspektionen, has announced the imminent initiation of their very own self-exclusion tool. Spelpaus.se website represents a way of allowing registered users to restrict access to gambling sites for themselves.

The system also forfeits all direct gambling-related advertisements from companies that have been licensed by the operator and have, much like the entire market, begun offering their services from January 1st.

Rising to the Occasion

With the newly regulated market arises new challenges of keeping Swedish populace away from gambling-related harm. Having plenty of international operators conducting online casino business also means, unfortunately, that for some, temptation to spend uncontrollably could be too much.

Demonstrating a perfect societal awareness of the looming problem, more than 10,000 Swedes have already signed up in order not to have gambling ads and other digital marketing material shown to them.

The new scheme lets users set a time limit on their exclusion...

...with periods varying by a certain degree: self-exclusion can begin with one month and can be prolonged to three months, six months and 'until further notice' – which can extend to as much as one year.

Representatives from the regulating authority have declared that a majority of self-excluded users have opted for the 'until further notice' option.

First Serious Sanctions on the Horizon

Less than a fortnight since the re-launch of the market under new guidelines, two licensed operators are finding themselves in hot water and are facing severe sanctions.

AG Communications and Genesis Global have failed to comply with the newly-installed regulations. Namely, some of the self-excluded players were still able to access their websites.

Both companies were given a chance to provide sufficient explanations until January 10th – with that date passed, it is unknown if they have obliged to Spelinspektionen's directive or not.

Communications manager for the regulator, Anders Sims, said:

“In recent days we have investigated what this is due to, and have found that everything seems to work well with the system. But for some reason there are a handful of gaming companies that do not meet the requirements set out by law.”

He added to his remark by reminding that gambling abuse is a wide-spread social problem. “It is positive that so many people have found the new service and use it as a tool to refrain from gaming and avoid direct advertising from gaming companies.”

Some of the websites that the two operators at fault have licensed in Sweden are Karamba, Hopa, TopTally, Lanadac, CasinoLuck, VikingSlots, SpinIt, Spel, CasinoCruise etc.

Source:

“Swedish self-exclusion scheme hits 10,000 sign-ups”, igbaffiliate.com, January 8, 2019.