{"id":18506,"date":"2014-02-19T05:30:59","date_gmt":"2014-02-19T05:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=18506"},"modified":"2014-07-24T13:57:30","modified_gmt":"2014-07-24T13:57:30","slug":"egba-moves-in-to-change-swedish-national-gambling-monopoly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/egba-moves-in-to-change-swedish-national-gambling-monopoly\/","title":{"rendered":"EGBA Moves In to Change Swedish National Gambling Monopoly"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_18524\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-18524\" data-style=\"width: 383px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-18524   \" src=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/svenska-spel-vansterstalld-pos_48.png\" alt=\"Svenska Spel Sweden EGBA\" width=\"383\" height=\"111\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/svenska-spel-vansterstalld-pos_48.png 886w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/svenska-spel-vansterstalld-pos_48-142x41.png 142w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/svenska-spel-vansterstalld-pos_48-768x223.png 768w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/svenska-spel-vansterstalld-pos_48-166x48.png 166w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/svenska-spel-vansterstalld-pos_48-655x190.png 655w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 383px) 100vw, 383px\" \/><figcaption  id=\"caption-attachment-18524\"class=\"text-description\">The European Gaming and Betting Association is threatening legal action against state-owned Swedish gaming monopoly Svenska Spel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>If Sweden wants to stay out of court, the Scandinavian country may have to make some significant changes to its gambling laws. That\u2019s the word from the <a title=\"European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA)\" href=\"http:\/\/www.egba.eu\" target=\"_blank\">European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA)<\/a>, which has warned the nation that they\u2019ll be facing a date in the European Court if they don\u2019t change the policies that currently allow for a national gambling monopoly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInaction will lead Sweden to the European Court,\u201d said Maarten Haijer, secretary-general of the EGBA. According \u00a0to Haijer, the current situation in Sweden may well leave the European Commission with no other choice than to take the country to the European Court of Justice.<\/p>\n<h2>Go Directly to Court<\/h2>\n<p>The controversy over Swedish gaming laws has to do with <a title=\"Svenska Spel - Wiki\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Svenska_Spel\" target=\"_blank\">Svenska Spel<\/a>, the state-owned company that has held a monopoly over the online gaming market in Sweden since it was founded in 1997. In recent months, many throughout Europe \u2013 now including the EGBA \u2013 have come to the conclusion that such a monopoly is in conflict with European laws that dictate the free movement of services between EU nations.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"main-blockquote\"><p>\u201cEvidently the best option for all concerned, and especially for Swedish consumers, is that Sweden will commit to re-regulate its market and allow online operators to apply for online licenses,\u201d Haijer said in a recent media interview. \u201cSweden is one of the few member states that is not yet introducing such legislation, but with consumer demand steadily increasing, this is inevitably the future.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cIf the status quo remains, it is clear that the European Commission will have no other option than to refer Sweden to the European Court,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<h2>Battle Over EU Laws<\/h2>\n<p>As Haijer pointed out, these accusations are nothing new. The European Commission made note of the restrictive laws in Sweden as early as 2006, and noted that the state-owned monopoly wasn\u2019t likely to conform with EU laws. But the last few months have seen an increase in the level of pressure on Sweden to make changes in the near future.<\/p>\n<p>Late last year, the European Commission asked Sweden to change its policies towards online gaming. That led many Swedish media outlets to report that the national monopoly was against European regulations. In early January, Svenska Spel Chairman Anitra Steen reacted strongly to those accusations, attacking <i>Tidningsutgivarna <\/i>\u2013 the trade association for Swedish newspapers and media organizations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is no doubt that EU treaties\u2026allow member states to maintain exclusive rights and monopoly in the gaming area,\u201d Steen wrote. \u201cWho[ever] is saying the opposite [is] spreading false information.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Steen also suggested that Sweden\u2019s media outlets were only reporting that the monopoly was illegal because they wanted more advertising money from foreign operations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe party is over for those seeking revenues from illegal gambling companies,\u201d Steen said. \u201cThe company should inform the European Commission about the driving forces behind the rampant marketing campaign,\u201d she added, referring to a marketing campaign targeting the Swedish monopoly.<\/p>\n<p>Trade association CEO Per Hultengard quickly fired back.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is true that the European Union exceptionally allows its member states to restrict freedom of movement and services in the field of gaming,\u201d he said. \u201cBut the restrictions have to satisfy certain objectives in a consistent and systematic manner.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One of those objectives is limiting access to online gambling in general \u2013 something Haijer says Svenska Spel has no interest in doing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the Swedish policy is not consistent, for instance due to its extensive marketing spending, then it doesn\u2019t serve to limit consumers play,\u201d Haijer said.<\/p>\n<p>Svenska Spel has roundly dismissed these claims, but has not commented on the possibility of being taken to the European Court of Justice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If Sweden wants to stay out of court, the Scandinavian country may have to make some significant changes to its gambling laws. That\u2019s the word from the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA), which has warned the nation that they\u2019ll be facing a date in the European Court if they don\u2019t change the policies that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":18524,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,13],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>EGBA Moves In to Change Swedish National Gambling Monopoly<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The European Gaming and Betting Association is challenging the Swedish national gambling monopoly held by Svenska Spel, and threatening court action.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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