In Sweden, online casino gambling is legal, but to buy lottery tickets, play slots, or participate online, you have to be 18 or older and 21 for the land-based houses. The hobby deems to be something that most people in Sweden do on a casual basis compared to other countries with fewer brick and mortar models available. Legal gambling in the land-based facilities took effect in 1994 with online legality occurring in 2002.
There are many licensed internet brands, but you can participate in using Swedish currency with other places not licensed through the government. That doesn’t deem them as illegal only that you need to research where the license originates to ensure legitimacy or risk using a website with no license.
The New Gambling Act
Rules and regulations for online gambling in Sweden are tight. There are a multitude of variables present that are drastically affecting online operators. The reality for these licensed brands proves to be harsh, risky, and bound in some instances to cause a few to back out. Some variables are:
- Those playing need to set limits for deposits by day, week, month. Log-in times are limited. Tests that players take to assess themselves must be made available.
- Spelpause is the national self-suspension register.
- 18% of taxes on GGR.
- There is only one bonus for each license holder meaning there are limits to opportunities for operators to distribute bonuses to their users.
- VIP players significantly positively affect a casino’s revenue, even with the few that contribute. There is no VIP treatment allowed and no up-selling of any kind.
- Marketing has considerable restrictions.
- Slot machine spins have to include a three-second cool-down between spins as opposed to none previously.
For any operation that is just beginning, these terms make it incredibly challenging to develop a following. From a different perspective, the customer has a certain safety in the environment, but the facility margins have a considerable decrease. Competition among casinos is incredible. Their method for drawing in business was incentives. Without the ability to provide more than one bonus, a customer has no real sense of loyalty to any one brand.
How The Regulations Are Benefiting the Players
Gambling has the potential to be addictive to a particular personality type. From a certain point of view, Spelpaus brings a level of security to those users as does the need for stringent identification processes; see https://casinomedbankid.se/. The possibility is now there to withdraw from each site with protection from any advertising for a month until there is further notification. There is no way to change it unless you opt to play with an operator that has no license.
As a means of making the online scene more secure, the pace for slots became significantly slower with the three-second cool-down rule. The rule may prevent people from developing a compulsion. Still, it also took away a great deal of the fun many were experiencing from the game, causing people to find other ways to indulge their need for entertainment.
New sites and online venues are few and far between with the limitation on bonuses, promotions, and incentive offers. Players who like a choice and want to be able to compare when choosing their venue, are no longer given such freedoms. Countless incentives are a thing of the past. These were at one time what the draw was for online gambling. Now there is a removal of all but one for licensed carriers. So, where do these players go to enjoy less stringent gameplay?
How Do You Enjoy Gambling Online In Sweden?
Spelinspektionen spent excessive amounts of time and effort in creating guidelines “where gaming activities in Sweden are carried out legally, safely, and reliably.” Were they able to accomplish their goal with the new bill? In the Act, the clause states that those licensed casinos have the requirement to guard users against any excessive gambling through the use of restrictions and options for self-help. But did this backfire on them?
Rather than endure these strict rules and regulations, players are engaging in play with casinos without licenses or casino Utan licens. Those searching for these operators are increasing enormously, with the phrase showing as the most prominent search on the Swedish market, excluding brand searches. The estimation is that a majority of Swedish gambling enthusiasts are playing via a licensed alternative with a large market of unlicensed choices looking to target the Swedish audience. Sadly, the licensed venues are sitting back watching as their margins significantly decrease with no actual safety for the players than there ever was previously.
Enforcing The Rules And Regulations
In an attempt to thwart users from using sites that are not licensed, the gambling legislation aims to deter this type of activity using language within the documents. The law deems it as illegal to offer unlicensed services online or offline for gambling purposes with punishment, including time in prison and fines. Advertisements for this illicit gameplay are forbidden.
Citizens accessing black market websites for these businesses will receive alerts indicating that the venue they are using does not have licensing through the Swedish Authority. The notion is that blocking transactions for processing of payments will take place, discouraging users from participating in these games.
Measures to restrict the use of unlicensed sites in other countries have proven to be fruitless, with customers quickly finding their way to other websites. In the age of cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin, the idea of interrupting the free flow of funds is virtually impossible.
Summary
The whole idea with Sweden’s Gambling Act is to take back control of the country’s gambling both in the online spectrum and in the offline medium. The problem with that is in trying to take control; they are further losing control more so than they had before. Now, rather than playing with legitimate, licensed operators within their country, people are playing with unlicensed sites taking away any type of safety, reliability, or legality for which authorities claim to be working so intensely.
