Sweden has been trying to clean up its gambling industry for quite some time now and this has seen to the introduction of several measures that are designed to protect its citizens. The most recent move in this regard pertains to a set of new rules that involves, among other things, the introduction of forced limits on players’ gambling deposits. There has also been a proposition that bonus offers are restricted to SEK100 for all the customers. In addition to that, the new laws will require the gambling operators to provide tools that will enable their customers to set mandatory time limits on the time that they spend on gambling platforms.
These new measures will be up for discussion by lawmakers on May 7 and if they are passed, they will be among the strictest gaming regulations in Europe. Now, all of the measures that are being proposed by the government are certainly motivated by protecting the well-being of the players. In fact, most of them will even help in reducing cases of problem gambling among other things that have been plaguing the gambling industry. However, some of these new measures seem to be too intrusive.
Ewout Weirda, the General Counsel at Videoslots has pointed out that there are measures that are going to do more harm than good. While the government has designed the measures to protect gamblers during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, there are concerns that they might end up backfiring.
Making the Case for Illegal Operators?
One of the things that companies like Videoslots have pointed out is the fact that all these restrictions are likely to make it very hard for legal operators to compete against illegal ones. Most notably, illegal gambling operators will still be able to offer limitless gameplay and very enticing bonuses.
“The changes proposed by the Government will take even more players away from the protection of the licensing system. Our player protection can help society cope with the current virus-related risks, but not if those players who need protection most choose black-market operators,” Ewout pointed out.
The main takeaway here is that more thought needs to be put into the process of introducing the new measures. Fortunately, the government has stated that it will be pursuing the measures in a transparent manner as the main goal is to find a solution that is not only consistent but also fair to the gamers and the operators. It will certainly take a bit of time to iron everything out but once that is done everything else will fall into place.
