Svenska Spel criticised following advertising review
Swedish gambling board study finds monopoly violated advertising terms in more than half of examined cases
Swedish monopoly Svenska Spel has been criticised after a review of its advertising conducted by Sweden’s gambling board found it violated new advertising restrictions in the country.
Lotteriinspektionen reviewed the operator’s marketing efforts between July and November last year following the introduction of new advertising guidelines implemented by the country’s government.
The study found that of 121 examples of marketing, 72 were considered “a clear violation of the terms stated” and a further 21 were on the verge of breaking the new terms.
Svenska Spel responded to the report by pledging to do more to ensure it complied with new regulations but called on the Lotteriinspektionen to be more open to dialogue with the operator.
“We have no other intention than to follow the guidelines, but there are some grey areas and we feel that we have had difficulty getting specific and clear feedback from the Gaming Board on how to design the advertising,” Johan Tisell, spokesperson for Svenska Spel, told Swedish publication Dagen.
Only 28 examples were found to be clear of any infringement however the report, published last Friday, did find a “marked improvement” between July and November with cases of advertising violating new guidelines down more than 50%.
The regulator also noted the “main problem” with Svenska Spel’s advertising had been its online marketing efforts “ specified in the report as including Facebook adverts and text links “ concluding that it had not fulfilled relevant criteria on the channel.
Last year the Gambling Board was involved in a dispute with Swedish media organisation Tidningsutgivarna after its CEO Per HultengÃ¥rd accused the regulator of enforcing a “hypocritical” policy on gambling advertising.
The dispute prompted Svenska Spel chief executive Lennart Käll to call for action against “aggressive advertising” from egaming operators targeting Swedish customers, with television adverts for several unlicensed operators left unpunished.
Svenska Spel had yet to reply to requests for comment at the time of publication.