Spelinspektionen, the Swedish gambling regulator has recently threatened to take tough action on online gambling licensees who fail to comply with the country’s Spelpaus.se self-exclusion scheme. These operators stand to have their licenses rescinded of they fail to go by the terms of their licenses.
Sweden regulated online gaming industry is barely a month old after it went live on January 1 and since the gaming regulator has noted a series of failings on the part of the online casino operators. This is what prompted the warning that required the operators to adjust their systems appropriately or risk being removed from the country’s regulated gaming market. According to the regulator, the licensed operators in Sweden are required to make checks against the Spelpaus.se register before they allow any of their customers to gamble online – if any player is found to have previously self-excluded from online gambling, the operators should then immediately block them from accessing the site.
“If the gaming companies fail to check and stop players who have self-excluded, it can be considered a serious violation of the regulations, which could mean that the gaming company will lose its license,” the gaming regulator’s spokesperson said in a statement.
The self-exclusion register was launched on January 1 so as to coincide with the launch of the country’s regulated market and since then over 10,000 people have signed up. Despite the large number of people that have signed up on the register, there is a possibility that it has not been serving its purpose since the gaming operators have not been looking into it before allowing gamblers to register on their platforms.
These kinds of issues were seemingly expected and the regulator is considering more lenient punishments for the offenders – mostly because the gaming industry is still in its very nascent stages. An alternative that has been thrown around is the issuance of fines which would amount to up to 10 percent of the offender’s turnover.
Aspire Global Integrates the Self-exclusion Scheme
Aspire Global’s subsidiary, AG Communications and Genesis Global were two of the operators that were found to have failed to properly integrate with the self-exclusion database thus allowing some of the players who had self-excluded to access their gambling products. AG Communications has since moved to be in full compliance with the online gambling laws in Sweden by integrating the self-exclusion scheme.
Clearly, the regulator’s threats are no joke and it is great to see that such issues are being tackled so early on before the regulated gambling market in the country eventually matures up. This will undoubtedly set precedence for operators who will apply for licenses in the future which further implies that the gaming industry will be safer for consumers.
