Swedish government mulls Italy-style marketing restrictions
Social affairs minister Ardalan Shekarabi says operators have not reduced marketing enough and legislative changes will be on the table next year
Swedish officials have met with Italian regulators to discuss the potential impact of a full-scale advertising ban, Sweden’s Minister of Social Affairs revealed yesterday.
Minister Ardalan Shekarabi instructed the Game Market Investigation Board (Spelmarknadsutredningen) in April to investigate how gambling ads could be “limited in terms of scope and content”, with options including a ban on online casino ads.
Providing an update on the process at a press conference yesterday, Shekarabi confirmed officials from the ministry had held discussions with Italian regulators and were also looking at restrictions being used in the Belgian and UK markets.
“The investigation has been given a broad mandate and they have every opportunity to propose what is necessary for us to protect consumers,” Shekarabi said.
The minister cited the reduction in marketing spend by operators following regulation as proof the government’s message was getting through but said continued high levels of advertising by operators necessitated more work in this area.
“We welcome that, but still see the need to work on changing the legislation,” Shekarabi said. “We will have proposals on our table next year to severely limit aggressive gaming advertising.”
The review is due to be presented in October 2020.
Responding to the press conference, the Swedish Gambling Association (Sper) questioned Ardalan Shekarabi’s dissatisfaction with the decreasing marketing spend by operators and the work that Sper and fellow trade association BOS had done in this area.
“It is worth noting, however, that the consumer agency refers to our marketing guidelines in their cases. It shows that they are doing their job. We see a great improvement and continue the work to create a sound and sustainable gaming industry,” Sper added.
In the same conference, Shekarabi said the growth of the Swedish market had exceeded initial expectations, citing the recent Swedish Gambling Authority channelization estimates that 91% of Swedish gamblers are doing so via licensed sites.
“Many people did not think that we would succeed in getting the companies that are active in the Swedish gaming market, but the channelization is very high,” Shekarabi added.
Native operators have repeatedly said the 91% figure overstates the true level of channelisation, while multiple operators have seen revenues drop thanks to negative growth in Sweden.