Sweden plots national self-exclusion roll-out
Regulator is likely to issue a public tender for the development of the technology in June and plans to roll it out in November
The Swedish online gambling regulator (Lotteriinspektionen) is planning to roll out a national self-exclusion scheme by November, to ensure it is fully functional by January when new regulations are enforced.
Jenny Nilzon, the director general for SPER – the trade body that counts Svenska Spel and ATG as members – said the regulator would be issuing a public tender in June for the development of the technology.
Swedish players will be able to opt to self-exclude from all licensed operators for either one, three, six or 12 months.
Many of the details are yet to be finalised, but Lotteriinspektionen plans to build the entire system over the course of the next six months.
Nilzon said: “It will be a pull-system, which is something operators are quite concerned about because it is more complicated than a push-system which would involve the authority pushing information out to the operators.
“[Operators] will have to enter the system themselves to ensure the customer has been excluded. As I understood it’s more complicated to run a pull-system,” she added.
“It will also be combined with marketing because when a player has shut themselves down you can’t send out any more direct marketing.”
Several UK firms have received fines after continuing to contact self-excluded players.
Swedish operators that fail to enforce the self-exclusion scheme properly will face a fine of up to 10% of turnover for the previous year.
The regulator is considering introducing a grace period for fines relating to operators continuing to send marketing material to self-excluded players.
The UK roll-out of a national self-exclusion database has been slower than expected thanks to technical intricacies.
Operators are able to apply for a licence in Sweden as of 1 August 2018.