The Ministry of Finance has issued the proposed extension which, if approved, will be the second time temporary restrictions have been extended. BOS secretary general Gustaf Hoffstedt (pictured) believes such an extension will “hurt” the regulated market.

“I have previously stated there is nothing as lasting as a political promise of something temporary,” said Hoffstedt.

“The Government seems unaware that their own expert authority, the Swedish Agency for Public Management, just over a week ago stated that the leakage from the Swedish gaming market to the unregulated gaming market is alarmingly high.

“The leakage for online casinos is particularly high, where as much as every fourth gaming krona is played outside the Swedish licensed market.”

The ordinance on temporary gambling liability measures due to Covid-19 commenced on 2 July 2020, and currently applies until 30 June 2021. But the new memorandum proposes that this ordinance shall remain in place until 14 November 2021.

“To extend restrictions that are disapproved by gaming consumers is to ask for continued problems for the channelling into the licensed market when it comes to online casinos,” continued Hoffstedt. “Thus, Swedish gaming consumers will lose out on the consumer protection that the Swedish Parliament has decided will apply in our country.

“It is provocative that the Swedish Government in a rhetoric about caring for the consumer in practice does the opposite, and hurts the Swedish gaming licensed market with its strong consumer protection.”