BOS reports Svenska Spel and ATG to Swedish Competition Authority
Trade association claims former monopoly operators abused market position
Swedish online gambling trade association (BOS) has reported Svenska Spel and ATG to the Swedish Competition Authority (Konkurrensverket) over alleged violation of Swedish competition practices.
BOS claims ATG has selectively given access to horseracing pools to unlicensed foreign operators, while at the same time rejecting access requests from Swedish licensed operators, which BOS believes to be an abuse of its dominant market position.
As part of the complaint, BOS requests that the Konkurrensverket force ATG to open these pools to other operators. If ATG fails to do so, it could face a fine of up to SEK500m (£41.5m) for abuse of its position.
In the case of Svenska Spel, BOS claims the former monopoly operator has used unfair marketing practices in marketing sports betting and online casino gaming to its lottery customers.
The operator is also said to have provided incentives to lottery players to access its sports betting and online gaming businesses.
Although EGR understands Svenska Spel ceased this practice last week, BOS secretary general Gustaf Hoffstedt expressed concern about the damage done to the Swedish market during the three months where this marketing has taken place.
BOS also alleges Svenska Spel retains the same logotype across both its business arms, despite its lottery business being hived off into a separate business entity ahead of the regulation of Swedish online casino and sports betting markets.
Hoffstedt said he was “deeply concerned” that Svenska Spel, as a government owned company, was “working so hard to violate not only competition law but also the Parliament’s ambition to create a gambling market on a level playing field.”
He added: ”ATG has a majority of state representatives in its board, including the chairman. It can not be in the state’s interest to work so hard to undermine the new Swedish gambling regulation and fair competition.”
Lena Lassenius, general counsel at Svenska Spel, dismissed BOS’s complaints as being without basis, saying the Svenska Spel had considered all competition laws mentioned in the complaint when changing Svenska Spel’s business structure.
”We feel confident with the assessments we have made and the complaint does not change our assessment,” Lassenius adds.
Svenska Spel retains a monopoly on lottery gaming, but the online gaming and sports betting markets have been open to external operators since 1 January.
ATG had not yet responded to an EGR request for comment at the time of publication.