Kindred CEO: Swedish Covid-19 gambling restrictions are “step in the wrong direction”
Henrik Tjärnström calls out unevidenced government stance on deposit limit extension
Kindred Group has slammed the Swedish government’s proposed extension of temporary deposit and bonus limits until July 2021 having questioned the rationale behind the decision.
In its response to the Swedish government, Kindred cited an absence of any facts or evidence to back up its decision to extend, while claiming the policy is the “opposite” of that determined by the Swedish parliament when it re-regulated the market.
The Stockholm-headquartered operator also questioned why further measures had not been taken to highlight the licensed market to Swedish players over its unlicensed counterpart.
”During these seven months that the restrictions have been in place, the Swedish government has not been taking any measures to determine the level of channelisation,” Kindred Group CEO Henrik Tjärnström said.
“They have not accounted for any measures against unlicensed operators in Sweden, and they cannot present any notable connections between the pandemic and increased problem gambling in Sweden at licensed Swedish operators.
“What we can see is a lower channelisation and an increased activity at unlicensed operators with zero consumer protection.
“That is a step in the wrong direction, and it is not the gambling policy decided by the Swedish parliament,” Tjärnström concluded.
As justification, Kindred highlighted government claims made prior to the regulation of the Swedish market that deposit limits were ineffective and that players should set their own limits- a stance which the Swedish government has since reversed.
Kindred also questioned why no methods to measure channelisation have been instituted by the Swedish government.
“The goal for the re-regulation of gambling in Sweden is at least 90% channelisation three years after the introduction, which will not be fulfilled. The reform increasingly appears to be yet another of Swedish gambling policy’s many regulation failures,” Kindred wrote.
In a final critique of the Swedish government, Kindred referenced two objectives to increase the market share of licensed operators, firstly by creating fair conditions in the licensed market while at the same time making it more difficult to access unlicensed sites.
“The government does neither,” Kindred concluded.
These sentiments were echoed by operator trade association BOS, which claimed the channelisation rate to the licensed market has dropped by as much as a quarter since the restrictions were introduced.