Swedish regulator fires self-exclusion scheme warning

Two licence holders in the newly-regulated Swedish iGaming market have been accused by the Spelinspektionen of allowing people who have signed up to the regulator’s self-exclusion scheme to continue accessing gambling websites. The regulator confirmed to iGamingBusiness.com today (January 8) that letters had been sent to Genesis Global Ltd and AG Communications Ltd, a subsidiary of Aspire Global, both of which are licensed to operate multiple websites in the country. The companies have been warned that they face serious sanctions unless they can provide an adequate explanation by January 10 of why they have failed to comply with the self-exclusion scheme’s requirements so far. They must also confirm when and how the matter will be rectified, the authority added. More than 10,000 people have now signed up to the Spelpaus.se initiative, which was introduced in the country to coincide with re-regulation of the online betting and gaming market on New Year’s Day. The scheme allows individuals to ask for their access to gambling websites to be blocked for a certain length of time whilst simultaneously ensuring they are not targeted by relevant direct marketing. Spelpaus.se gives users the option of signing up to be excluded for one month, three months, six months or until further notice – an option that runs for a minimum of one year. The vast majority of those who have signed up so far have opted for the longest blackout period, the watchdog said, before adding that such shutdowns “cannot be undone, altered or terminated prematurely”. AG Communications’ licensed websites are listed as: Karamba.com, hopa.com, mrplay.com, goliathcasino.com, spinson.com, magicred.com, toptally.com, barbadoscasino.com, lanadas.com, casinoluck.com, vikingslots.com, primeslots.com and slotjerry.com. Genesis Global’s licensed websites are listed as Casinojoy.com, spel.com, casinocruise.com, spinit.com, sloty.com, genesiscasino.com, vegashero.com, pelaa.com and casinogods.com. The regulator said that those which had failed to comply so far had seemingly not checked the Spelpaus.se registry before allowing their customers to play, and failed to ensure an active connection to Spelpaus.se was in place. “In recent days we have investigated what this is due to, and have found that everything seems to work well with the system,” the regulator’s communications manager, Anders Sims, said. “But for some reason there are a handful of gaming companies that do not meet the requirements set out by law.” The authority added that measures will be taken if the problem is not resolved shortly there has been no indication as to the sanctions each licensee may face. “The next step really depends on what response we receive by January 10,” Sims told iGamingBusiness.com. Speaking more broadly about the number of sign-ups to the scheme so far, Sims said: “Gambling abuse is a widespread social problem, so it is positive that so many people have found the new service and use it as a tool to refrain from gaming and avoiding direct advertising from the gaming companies.”