In total, 12 companies have been approved to offer either online casino, online sports betting or both, including Svenska Spel. The state-owned operator has also secured a separate licence to that effectively restates its position as the monopoly holder for lottery games and land-based slot machines.
The country's former horse racing monopoly operator AB Trav och Galopp (ATG) has been issued online betting and gaming licences, as have high profile international operators such as bet365 and GVC (for its bwin, partypoker and partycasino brands). A number of Nordic brands such as Casumo, LeoVegas, Kindred Group and Betsson, which has been awarded separate licences for its Betsson, NordicBet and SverigeAutomaten brands, have also secured approval.
Operators including Interwetten, Tombola, SuprPlay and white label casino operator SkillOnNet have also been cleared to enter the market from January.
The country’s government approved its new gambling law earlier this year, thus ending the long-standing monopoly system and clearing the path for international gambling companies to apply for a license from the local regulator and operate in a regulated environment. The new law is set to take effect on January 1, 2019. From that day on, unlicensed gaming and betting operations will be strictly prohibited and penalized by Lotteriinspektionen, which will soon change its name to Spelinspektionen in line with the new regulations.
Lotteriinspektionen launched the license application process on August 1, inviting interested international companies to submit their applications as early as possible for a chance to be among the first ones to be issued licenses. The gaming regulator said in a statement from earlier today that it has received 95 applications so far. However, it pointed out that the number of applications did not correspond to the number of companies that have submitted those as there have been companies to have applied for several different types of licenses.
The 16 approve licensees will be able to commence operations in the country’s newly regulated market from January 1, 2019.
Source: GMB
