Sweden inches towards deregulation of gaming industry

The government of Sweden has moved one tiny step closer to deregulating the Swedish gaming market, newspaper Svenska Dagbladet reports, commissioning a new report expected to result in a proposal by the end of the year.

It’s a big change for Sweden: The state-owned Svenska Spel has always had a monopoly on the gambling industry, and has managed to maintain it in recent years despite EU Commission threats to take Sweden to court under freedom of establishment rules.

Sweden has argued the monopoly is necessary from a public health standpoint, but the commission hasn’t bought it.

So, in turn, a Swedish Police Service representative has been tabbed to table a set of proposals to deregulate the industry.

Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg and Public Health Minister Maria Larsson both indicated in the paper the government’s main priority in deregulation is to impose a ban on aggressive marketing in the gaming industry. They’ve also indicated Svenska Spel will keep an exclusive license on gambling activities seen as “problematic from a social perspective.”

A rival member of parliament, Tomas TobĐą, who is strongly in favor of breaking the Svenska Spel monopoly, says the report will do little to speed the process along, but it does seem to be a move in the right direction..

“This proposal will do very little to appease the EU Commission,” TobĐą told Dagbladet, “and Sweden can expect a summons to the European Court of Justice and a subsequent conviction.

“But it at least paves the way for responsible companies other than Svenska Spel to legally establish themselves in Sweden in the future.”