The National Audit Office of Sweden (NAO) has slammed the country’s Gambling Regulator, saying it is “not effective enough” in both the licensed and unlicensed gambling markets, while at the same time indicating that the Swedish Government is also at fault.
The Swedish Gambling Authority, Spelinspektionen, is accused by the NAO of carrying out too few inspections, according to a report by Intergame.
The review by the NAO says, “The shortcomings are partly due to the priorities that the Gambling Authority has chosen to make. The authority emphasizes that new government assignments and other activities crowd out the possibilities to carry out supervision to the desired extent.”
It continues by pointing the finger at government legislation, highlighting a weakness in gambling laws allowing grey market gambling to flourish.
“In order to maintain the legitimacy of the system, it is important to have an effective sanction system with quick and tangible reactions to violations of the regulatory framework.
“However, supervision is made more difficult by the fact that the gambling law is unclear, which has opened up a grey gambling market in Sweden.”
Spelinspektionen director general Camilla Rosenberg said it is working to “develop and streamline processes and routines.”
“In the business plan for the current year, we prioritize continued development by streamlining processes, routines, and system support as well as the work with risk analyses/risk assessments,” it said.
“The authority has also made organizational changes during the year to further strengthen the environmental analysis work.”
“We welcome the National Audit Office’s review and since the reregulation have carried out ongoing change work and still have work to do.
“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.”