Swedish iGaming market opens for business

Sweden’s regulated online gaming market has opened for business, with 60 companies already licensed by the country’s gambling regulator, which has been rebranded as the Spelinspektionen. The market officially launched on January 1 and various operators are already live in the country, including GVC Holdings, which has rolled out its bwin and PartyPoker brands. The operator was one of the first to secure a licence, in November 2018. The bwin.se site will offer pre-event and in-play sports betting services as well as a range of casino games, while PartyPoker.se will focus on poker and gaming. “Launching two new labels in such a short space of time after receiving our licence, demonstrates the flexibility of our unique proprietary technology platform,” GVC chief operating officer Shay Segev said. iGaming content supplier Microgaming has gone live with a number of partners in the market, including bwin, as well as PokerStars, Bet365, LeoVegas, Unibet, Betsson Group and Cherry’s ComeOn. “This move continues our strategic expansion in key regulated markets, working closely with regulators and supporting operators as they grow their offering with our diverse portfolio of content built with player protection in mind,” Microgaming chief operating officer Andrew Clucas said. Meanwhile, Spelinspektionen, which has rebranded from Lotteriinspektionen to reflect is broader remit, has also issued a further three licences to AhaWorld, Hero Gaming and White Hat Gaming. White Hat has secured an online gaming licence and will operate a total of 24 white label sites for third-party partners, including domains such as 21casino.com, 666casino.com, Spinrider.com, Dreamjackpot.com and Casimba.com. AhaWorld has secured a licence covering its AhaBingo.com site, while the Hero online gambling and betting licence now allows it to offer its Casinoheroes.com, Betser.com, Speedycasino.com and spweedybet.com platforms in Sweden. Last month, Hero signed a content deal with Red Tiger Gaming in anticipation of securing a new licence in Sweden. The Spelinspektionen is yet to reject a licence application as part of its process for re-regulation. Between late November and December 27, the regulator issued licences to the likes of Gaming Innovation Group, Paf and Paddy Power Betfair, among others.