Swedish regulator unable to determine exact effects of temporary Covid-19 measures

Swedish regulator Spelinspektionen (SGA) has evaluated its Covid-19 measures in a recent report and detailed its impact on public health and consumer protection.

The measures introduced by the SGA include a SEK5,000 (£403) monthly deposit cap for online casinos, a SEK100 limit on bonuses and certain login time limits, among other rules.

These measures were implemented in July 2020 and were only meant to be in place until the end of that year, but were extended beyond this point and eventually repealed in November 2021.

After the measures were repealed, the government did plan on bringing back the cap, but these plans were scrapped despite recommendations by the Swedish Gambling Authority that certain betting products should be considered high-risk.

The report comes after the Swedish government requested the SGA to evaluate the success of the measures.

The regulator did say it would measure the success of the rules by looking at them from all angles. For example, the SGA looked into how gambling habits changed in that period, whether problem gambling increased, if gambling-related debt had become more commonplace, and the public perception of the rules.

The SGA also consulted several groups to try and explore the outcomes of the measures thoroughly.

Despite this depth of research and all the data found, the regulator said it was still difficult to say for sure what effects the measures had. The body did say that because of the disrupted nature of events throughout the 17 months, it made it difficult to see what exact effect the changes would have had in a normal schedule.

The regulator also said the lack of a true control group made it hard to determine the effects of the measures.

There were only six months between the legalisation of the online gaming market in Sweden and the measures being brought in. The SGA said it was “not possible to distinguish the effects” due to this short time frame.

The report found that “there was no increase in either online gambling or problem gambling,” but it may have increased in some groups. It went on to say that rates of harm continued to be high among online casino players.

While the rules were implemented, the regulator did take action against a number of operators. Kindred Group and ATG were initially given injunctions by the regulator as it was found that players could deposit more than the imposed caps, but these were later dismissed in court.

There were no further violations of the other rules detected by the SGA. However, the regulator has said that licensees should continue to do their own assessments to detect any players who could be at risk of gambling-related harm.

When assessing the effect the rules had on channelisation, the regulator said there was a slight increase in licensed play in the 17 months, but again, it was difficult to measure precisely.