The Law Council in Sweden Supports the Inspectorate in Its Quest to Direct Power Over Payment Blocks

This is one of the rules that it seeks to introduce in the gambling market in an attempt to strengthen the safeguards in the gambling marketplace. The rule is expected to safeguard the marketplace against current and future financial threats.

Repeal of the 2018 Swedish Gambling Act

In a legal advisory sent to the Ministry of Finance, the Law Council calls for the measures to be introduced in the gambling marketplace as early as July 1, 2023. With this proposal, the council hopes to enhance market integrity as well as exclude illegal players from the gambling marketplace. Besides, it also seeks to end any incidences of the manipulation of sports results.

This advice seeks a repeal of the 2018 Swedish Gambling Act and gives the Spelinspektionen (gambling inspectorate) authority to enforce a direct block on any payment providers that process unlicensed online gambling payments. Section 26 of the gambling act requires the gambling inspectorate to secure an administrative court request when seeking to issue a payment block on any provider.

The Repeal Enhances Law Enforcement

However, the repeal will not affect the main law that requires all payment service providers to abide by all rules of the payment services act and block any payment that they believe has been used for brokering wins or bets for any gaming enterprise that does not have the proper license as stipulated in the gaming act.

In the past, the gaming inspectorate has stated that it is unable to enforce the rule even if it has the power to do so as it has to go through an administrative court to get a nod, which it believes is burdensome to the authority. Lagrådet backs the changes in the law to simplify the mechanism that the inspectorate uses to block payments, as it is one of the most appropriate to protect the Swedish gambling market.

The New Law Focuses on Sports Betting Integrity

This proposal has a secondary focus on sports betting, with a special interest in the integrity of the results. In this case, it seeks to eliminate any instances of match-fixing by expanding the available framework to allow sports federations and licensees to process more personal data in the already created anti-corruption legal structure.

In a follow-up to the focus on match fixing, the council requires all the licensees to provide all the available data on the issue at hand in order to aid in the investigation of this crime if suspected in particular games.

These new laws are likely to have a profound effect on the gambling marketplace. First, it will weed out any payment providers that may not be following the strict rules as set out by the act. Second, it will enhance fairness as regards to the results of the various games. Players will be able to win fairy in the games they wager on, and money will not be laundered by having games fixed.

Sweden is one of the most secure gambling jurisdictions in the world. It has a robust framework that ensures that both the players and the industry stakeholders follow a strict guideline.

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Alejandro Dalby Written by Alejandro Dalby