Swedish gaming operators support regulator’s proposal to increase fees

Swedish legislators have been considering a plan to increase funding for Spelinspektionen, the country’s gaming regulator, to enable it to monitor the sector. According to the regulator, increasing the fees gaming companies must pay is another approach for generating money.

Sweden’s Online Gaming Industry Association (BOS), which includes its members Flutter, Entain, Kindred and others, is ready to pay more to be active in the country. This is because the money will allow the regulator to be better positioned to prevent illegal platforms and combat organised crime.

Earlier, Spelinspektionen said that it was not going to target unregulated online gaming platforms, however, now, that has changed.

To fulfil its new duties, it requires a SEK2.4m ($239,000) increase, something that the Swedish Government agreed to grant last week.

Gustaf Hoffstedt, BOS Secretary-General, said: We believe that the Gambling Authority is underfunded, at least in terms of maintaining an acceptable dialogue with the industry the authority is set to monitor.”

The current licence fee for the state-run gaming company Svenska Spel is SEK50,000. The proposed amount by Spelinspektionen would be SEK 200,000. Additionally, the operator would have to pay SEK2,000 per slot machine.

The cost to obtain the licence is SEK25,000 for an individual and SEK80,000 for a company. Furthermore, each space costs SEK3,000.On the plus side, licence renewal and amendment expenses might not be incurred by operators.

In place of the SEK150,000 they presently pay, Spelinspektionen has suggested eliminating it entirely.

Recently, Finnplay and Play’n Go were provided licencing to supply their iGaming services in Sweden.