Young adults dominate Spelpaus sign-ups

Nearly half of those who have signed up to the Spelpaus.se Swedish gambling self-exclusion register are between the ages of 25 and 34 years old, national gambling regulator Spelinspektionen said today (May 31). In revealing that the number of individuals who have been added to the register has surpassed 35,000, the watchdog said that 40% of those who had self-excluded fitted into the age category. In May alone, more than 2,800 people signed up to the scheme, which was launched on January 1 to coincide with the launch of the country’s regulated online gambling market. The scheme enables Swedish consumers to block themselves from accessing licensed gambling services in the country and opt out of related marketing campaigns. Players are required to register with their BankID number, and are then blocked from accessing igaming sites, while operators are required to remove their details from all marketing databases. Spelpaus.se is effective across licensed online casinos, slot games and lotteries, as well as land-based services including retail stores and bingo halls, with Individuals able to self-exclude for one, three or six months, or until further notice. Spelinspektionen has previously said that most of those on the register have self-excluded for an indefinite period of time – which runs for at least one year. Gambling operators are obliged to integrate with Spelpaus.se part of their licence requirements, with the regulator warning that those who fail to do so face hefty fines and potentially having their licences revoked. A number of licensees have already been sanctioned by Spelinspektionen for failing to comply with this licence condition. Genesis Gaming and Paf Consulting were issued with fines in March after a number of consumers who had self-excluded informed the regulator they were still able to gamble on sites operated by the pair. Genesis was fined SEK4m (£329,000/€383,000/$429,000) for breaching the licence condition, despite having already been warned about its activities by the regulator. Genesis had previously said that it had integrated with the register, putting the initial issue down to a third party’s system failing to integrate with Spelpaus.se. Paf Consulting, a subsidiary of the Åland Islands-based operator, was also fined SEK100,000 for self-exclusion failures. In April, Spelinspektionen fined Aspire Global SEK3m for failing to adhere to the self-exclusion regulations. In March, the Administrative Court of Linköping ruled that Swedish gamblers cannot end self-exclusion periods early, upholding the authority of the scheme. Image: Max Pixel