In May it was reported that pressure to comply with EU regulations on free-trade had caused the Swedish government to consider the sale of certain sectors of the state-owned Svenska Spel. At present Svenska Spel offers over 20 different gambling games on the Internet, including number games, sports betting such as Oddset and Oddset live, scratch cards, bingo (multiplay and single games), six different Probability Games under the name Pick ‘n’ Click and Poker which was launched successfully during 2006. It was one of the first companies in the world to develop gaming via mobile phone.

Under subsidiary Casino Cosmopol, Svenska Spel has established four casinos in Sweden, in the cities of Stockholm, Malmö, Göteborg and Sundsvall. The company also operates slot machines in restaurants and commands over 55% of Sweden’s gaming market. Casino visits increased by 15% in 2007. That year Svenska Spel established its position as one of the most responsible gaming companies in the world with the launch of ‘Spela lagom’ (play in moderation) concept and ‘Spelkoll’ (gaming check) – claimed to be the only tool in the world that helps prevent problem gaming.

A government inquiry into the restructuring of the gaming market last year led to the issue of a directive stating, "The new regulations shall preserve and strengthen social protection aspects and counteract gaming dependency, fraud and criminality. The basis for the current model for gaming regulation is also to serve as a model in future. The model shall combine the need for a strong and improved level of social protection with the need to adapt to the conditions of the modern IT society and the ensuing obligations of EU legislation."

The inquiry is to propose how the current regulations could be tightened and map the extent to which various gaming forms cause dependency. The starting point is that only those games that are known to be associated with gaming problems be run under state control. It should also determine if this type of restriction of current regulations may not be possible on all points due to EU legislation, technical or other issues, and if so propose a partially new system which would includes operators other than those currently licensed for gaming operations.

Swedish Finance Minister Andres Borg is said to have proposed the privatisation of gambling sectors such as lottery games, sports betting and maybe poker as low risk categories of gambling. This is seen as a strategy to avoid Sweden being brought before the European Court of Justice for not complying with free trade rules. However, a survey by the National Institute of Public Health in Sweden has shown that online gamblers tend to spend more when playing online poker than when playing other casino games.

If the less addictive forms of gambling are privatised, Svenska Spel can expect last year’s record profits to decline. As part of its international strategy, Svenska Spel is to be actively involved in and develop international gaming cooperation with other regulated operators. This is already occurring in ways such as through the Viking Lotto game, which is a co-operation between gaming companies in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Iceland and Estonia. (E-07.18.08)

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