MRG and Bethard obtain Swedish online licences

Swedish operators MRG and Bethard have become the latest to be awarded licences for the country’s re-regulated iGaming market. MRG has been granted online gaming and betting licences for its Mr Green and Evoke Gaming subsidiaries, with sites Mr Green, Redbet, Vinnarum, Bertil and MamaMiaBingo now able to go live from January. “We welcome the Swedish regulation and are looking forward to offering a superior experience in our Green Gaming environment,” said Per Norman, CEO of MRG. “We are especially happy about the strong emphasis on responsible gaming in the Swedish regulation since Green Gaming has been part of our strategy since the start of the company 10 years ago.” Meanwhile, Bethard, Fastbet and SverigeCasino and a host of white-label sites make up the 16 brands that Bethard is bringing to the re-regulated market. “Today I am celebrating together with our white label clients, who now will get the same opportunity as us to carry out operations in Sweden,” Bethard founder and chief executive Erik Skarp commented. “Sweden is, for many reasons, a very dear market to us and I am personally looking forward to show what we can do in terms of responsible gaming on our home market,” he said. “Our goal is to become Europe’s leading betting company, not only in terms of innovation but also in terms of having the courage to take the right decisions in order to be a truly responsible gaming company.” Some 21 companies have now obtained licences to join state-owned former monopoly Svenska Spel in the Swedish market from January 1 since the first permits were awarded on November 30. As well as re-launching its B2C brands in Sweden, Bethard told iGamingBusiness.com it is looking to rapidly expand its B2B operations in 2019. Having obtained licences in Denmark and the UK during 2018, the operator said expects to receive permits in Germany (Schleswig-Holstein), Ireland, Spain and “potentially a few more markets” in 2019. It admitted concerns over the potential for Ireland in the coming year with the government recently doubling gambling turnover tax from 1% to 2% on January 1. “The new tax level in Ireland is definitely something we’ve been following closely,” a spokesperson said. “Having a taxation based on turnover in sports betting is always a challenge for an operator. “As the tax for sports betting was doubled [from 1% of turnover to 2% of turnover], it will definitely create an even bigger challenge, where operators will have to reduce the small margins even further.”