Svenska Spel censured by Swedish Consumer Agency over lottery advertising
Ombudsman rules lottery TV spot is a form of advertising following BOS complaint
Svenska Spel has been warned by the Swedish Consumer Agency (KO) that a lottery-themed TV spot broadcast constitutes advertising and must include responsible gambling messaging.
It concerns the Trisskrapet broadcast, which appears on free-to-air Swedish TV channel TV4 during its morning magazine show (Nyhetsmorgon), in which guests play Svenska Spel scratchcards.
In its judgement, KO said the “relevant elements” of the broadcast constituted marketing of Svenska Spel games, but did not identify as advertisements, thereby not meeting commercial communication of gambling standards.
The warning follows a complaint by Swedish trade association BOS last year, in which it argued that these broadcasts were designed to increase gambling participation but did not include responsible gambling information as required under Swedish law.
At the time, BOS CEO Gustaf Hoffstedt said the programme was clearly marketing-related and should be subject to Swedish laws on commercial communications.
“Pre-funded TV shows with only one message – win money – is marketing games about money and should thus be regulated and judged on the basis of the new game law’s requirements and intentions,” said Hoffstedt.
Operators are required to display an 18+ age warning and information about the Swedish national problem gambling helpline on all advertisements on Swedish TV and online.
Hoffstedt welcomed the KO decision, claiming Svenska Spel was acting outside of Swedish gambling laws in not including the messaging within the TV broadcast.
BOS has previously unsuccessfully lobbied against Svenska Spel, filing a complaint with the Swedish Competition Authority for alleged abuse of its dominant market position.
It argued that the former monopoly operator was using lottery advertising to cross-sell online casino and sports betting products. However, the case was subsequently dismissed by KO.
Svenska Spel has confirmed an appeal against the KO decision.
Svenska Spel general counsel Lena Lassenius told EGR “In our opinion, the Triss broadcast in TV4 is editorial and not marketing. KO has no right to decide that Svenska Spel should provide information regarding an editorial TV-program. We have appealed KO:s decision so that this matter can be tried in court.”