The Swedish government submitted new proposals last week suggesting horse racing and sports betting be excluded from the weekly deposit limit. Previously, Health Minister Ardalan Shekarabi submitted proposals for a weekly deposit limit of 5000 SEK (€500) as well as a €100 limit on welcome bonuses, which has been widely criticized.

The temporary regulations were supposed to be introduced next week on 1 June, but that date has been pushed back until 2 July.

You may remember back in April the Swedes considered shutting down online casinos to avoid an increase in "gambling related harm" during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In response, Gustaf Hoffstedt, the General Secretary of Branschföreningen för Onlinespel (BOS), Sweden’s online gambling trade association, said "the new suggestion is impossible to understand from a consumer protection perspective."

Since the first governmental suggestions were presented, we have received data from the Swedish Gambling Authority and the Swedish Tax Authority showing that online casino has not increased during covid-19, whereas horse betting has exploded. Against all rationality the Government now wants to exclude horse betting from further regulation whereas online casino shall receive further restrictions.

It is obvious that the Government’s actions despite its rhetoric has nothing to do with consumer protection, but rather to do with an aim to provide benefits to gambling companies that is closely connected to the Government. Such as horse betting company ATG with a majority of its board members appointed by the Government.

The Government is aware of the alarming low channelization for online casino, and it just doesn’t seem to care. It’s a huge loss for costumer protection in Sweden.
Read more here: https://www.bos.nu/en/2020/05/22/bos...ling-measures/