The Swedish Regulator will not Object to Temporary Restrictions on Online Slots

The Swedish gambling regulator Spelinspektionen said it would not object to the government introducing new temporary restrictions on online slot machines. However, the implications of this measure are still unclear.

Earlier this month, a consultation was launched by the Swedish government regarding a new, lower deposit limit for online casinos of SEKK (£324/€388/$443) a month, and this regulation is expected to take effect from February.

Specifically, these new measures will begin to be implemented from February 7 to June 30 to reduce the harms and risks related to gambling in the context that the whole world is heavily affected by Covid-19.

In addition, the player protection argument was also part of the decision to introduce the previous online casino deposit limit of SEK5,000, effective from July 2, 2020, through November 14, 2021.

Authorities only intended this to be a short-term measure at the time of the decision. However, the limit has been repeatedly extended and kept in place throughout the pandemic.

Spelinspektionen has previously opposed and criticized the SEK5,000 deposit limit decision taken since 2020 because they argued that there was not enough evidence to support this measure.

However, Spelinspektionen recently replied during the consultation that it would not oppose the reintroduction of temporary deposit limit measures; given the resurgence of Covid-19 in Sweden, it is still too early to know the impact these rules have on players.

The regulator also said that its position on this would remain unchanged and that more data would be needed if those measures were to be maintained for longer than expected.

However, they also said they are happy that the decision has been made clearer on how the operators manage their players to set their deposit limits higher than SEK4,000 a week, but then limit This deadline has been lowered.

Spelinspektionen also added that it is in the process of evaluating the application of existing interim measures and will report back its findings and views to the government by March 15.