Swedish Gambling Authority deemed “not effective enough” by national auditor 

Sweden’s National Audit Office has said that the country’s gambling regulator is “not effective enough” in its role and it needs to “work actively” to improve.

A review conducted by the National Audit Office found that the Swedish Gambling Authority (SGA) carries out “too few inspections” across both the licensed and unlicensed markets, and that its approach to investigations was not backed by “well-found risk analyses”.

The organisation suggested this is due to the SGA prioritising other government assignments which “crowd out the possibilities to carry out supervision to the desired extent”.  

The National Audit Office has also claimed the SGA doesn’t carry out sufficient follow-ups when it makes supervisory rulings, highlighting that the regulator has only carried out one follow-up inspection in the last five years.  

The body argued this would mean the SGA wouldn’t be aware if any reported errors have been rectified or whether resources are being used in a cost-efficient manner.  

The review recommended that the Swedish government works more closely with the SGA in future to ensure it has the proper conditions and support to regulate effectively, ensuring reliable and fair information is produced regarding the regulator’s investigations. 

The office also suggested the government clarifies which aspects of gambling require a licence, as well as potentially expanding the SGA’s scope.

As part of the National Audit Office’s recommendations to the SGA, it told the regulator it needed to “develop the forms for planning, directing and following up the supervisory activities”, as well developing existing investigative methods.

National Audit Office director Claudia Gardberg Morner said: “It is particularly important to supervise forms of gambling that are associated with great risks. This includes commercial online gambling and betting, which should be controlled significantly more.  

“It is also important to exclude illegal gambling. The government should clarify in which cases online gambling requires a licence. That would facilitate the supervisory work.” 

Gustaf Hoffstedt, secretary general of the Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling (BOS), agreed with the findings from the National Audit Office’s report.  

Hoffstedt also suggested the existing regulatory framework in Sweden, which was introduced when the market re-regulated in 2019, was to blame for the SGA’s shortcomings.

He said: “That today’s gambling legislation allows such extensive parts of the gambling market to operate without a licence is unsustainable. In front of both the current and previous governments, we have advocated an expansion of the Gambling Act’s scope of application.  

“In this way, it would become generally illegal for gambling companies that lack a Swedish gambling licence to accept Swedish gambling consumers, and as a consequence these companies must geoblock Sweden.

“It is very welcome that the National Audit Office reasons in a similar way in the report published today.” 

In response to the National Audit Office’s review, the SGA acknowledged the need to develop its processes for planning, directing and following up its supervisory activities, which would include developing a designated system for risk analysis. 

SGA director general Camilla Rosenberg added: “We welcome the National Audit Office’s review.

“We can look back on six very intense years with a new framework legislation, new actors and new tasks in a completely new regulation. 

“Several issues are still awaiting practice in court. The authority has also received increased budget funds for 2024 that we requested, which is a decisive factor in being able to develop the business further.” 

Earlier this month, new legislation came into effect in Sweden which allowed the SGA to set mandatory responsible gambling requirements for operators.  

The regulator will be allowed to add tangible, actionable goals to the gambling-related harm action plans operators in the country are required to submit.