Sweden considers banning online casino advertising

Sweden’s government said on Wednesday it would look at whether to ban advertising by online casinos and other forms of gambling as it seeks to tackle a rise in addiction, sending shares in the sector lower.

Sweden, which has seen a surge in online gambling from overseas-based casinos in recent years, tightened rules for gambling firms at the start of the year and called on the industry to put in place a code of conduct to protect vulnerable consumers.

In the gaming act that applies since January 1 this year, there is a requirement that advertising for games should be moderate. Even so, consumers are still exposed to aggressive gaming advertising, the government says. Shekarabi therefore called on the gaming industry on February 14 to urge self-action to remove the aggressive game advertising. By March 31, the measures were to be reported.

But measures have not gone far enough, according to Minister for Public Administration Ardalan Shekarabi, who said a commission would put forward its own recommendations. “There is scope for the commissioner to recommend a total or partial ban on gambling advertising,” Shekarabi stated during a press conference on Wednesday, as reported by Reuters.

The commission’s remit will include looking at whether to treat advertising of online gambling in the same way as adverts for alcohol and tobacco, limits on advertising bonuses, jackpots and free-plays and whether to limit advertising during live sporting events, such as football matches. The assignment must be reported no later than October 1, 2020.

In June 2018, the government commissioned the gaming market investigation to analyze, among other things, the horse industry and sport's conditions after the re-regulation of the gaming market, and to consider further measures to reduce the harmful effects of gambling.

Shares in Swedish betting group Betsson were down 4.7 percent at 1218 GMT. Rival LeoVegas was down 7.7 percent. The European Betting and Gaming Association estimated that online gambling firms in Europe had gross profits of 19.6 billion euros ($21.96 billion) in 2017.

Swedish state-owned gambling operator Svenska Spel issued a statement earlier this month confirming that it has terminated all forms of online casino advertising since April. Last year, Italy banned the advertising of all forms of gambling.