Svenka Spel Continues To Monopolise Swedish Online Bingo

Last week, the Swedish National Gambling Consultation released a report in which it recommended that the Swedish Government should extend their monopoly on online gaming, including online poker, online casino games, and online bingo. The report comes in the wake of several complaints to the EU Court of Justice that the gambling monopoly enjoyed by Svenka Spel - the government-owned online gaming provider – is illegal under the rules of the EU's free competition rules.

The rules in question are intended to allowed all companies free access to all markets within the EU. Because the EU is made up of so many sovereign countries, the rules allow for certain practises – such as gambling – to be banned within an EU member country, but not where such banning is simply to protect local businesses from competition.

For example, as the UK is an EU member, then an online bingo company such as Wink Bingo or 888Ladies should be allowed to accept players from Sweden, but this law makes it illegal for them to do so.

The recommendations of the report go even further, though. They suggest using IP blocking within Sweden to prevent Swedish citizens from accessing international gambling bingo sites. They also want to implement a Swedish version of the USA's UIGEA legislation, which makes it an offence for banks to process financial transactions between players and online gaming sites.

Alongside this, they also suggest loosening areas of their gambling legislation to allow international bingo sites gaming companies access to Swedish markets by doing away with the state monopoly on sports betting by 2011, but with the exception of betting on horse racing, which will remain under the control of the state. On the surface, this makes it appear that Sweden is beginning to comply with EU free trade rules while in fact it is increasing the scope of their monopoly.

At least, this is how most international gaming companies are viewing the report. Last week, representatives from Bettson, Expect, Unibet and Ladbrokes called a press conference in Stockholm where they made their opinions on the report clear: they accused the Swedish government of trying to protect its illegal monopoly.

In addition, Ladbrokes released a statement on their website that roundly condemned the proposals.

News Sources:-
December 30, 2008
http://bingostreet.com/news-20081230/svenka-spel-continues-to-monopolise-swedish-online-bingo