Sweden Probes Another Online Casino

by Margaret Oliveira, News Staff Writer

September 12, 2007

The country of Sweden is known for its tough stance on internet casinos. The nation’s Gaming Board, the Lotteriinspektionen, has long maintained a policy of punishing any independent online gambling entities for daring to try and compete with government-owned online casino operations, which hold a near-total monopoly in Sweden. The Board has typically responded to word of new internet casino businesses with sweeping legal inspections, which the companies in question have no choice but to comply with, under fear of back-breaking fines. Historically, private businesses have caved to the Board’s demands. Now, however, an upstart online gambling group is challenging the Board’s authority – and the European Commission stands ready to support them.

Redbet Limited, an online casino group, has been asked to supply information to the Board that usually would be kept private. Under its own rules, the Board maintains the right to violate these privacy standards if it is believed that a commercial entity has been engaging in illicit online gambling operations. The information is supposedly used to determine whether any illegal internet casinos have been doing business on Swedish soil. Companies that refuse to comply with the information subpoenas are subject to exorbitant fines.

The EC has warned Sweden that its policies regarding online casinos are not in line with EC regulations. If Redbet Limited decides to flout the Board’s request for information on its online casino business, it will surely be interesting to see what the Board’s next move is. To date, there has been no big judicial test of the Board’s sovereignty in regulating the matters of online gambling – the global community of internet casinos stands waiting to see how such a case would turn out.
 

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