The Swedish Gambling Authority has reprimanded More Tech Group and Multi Brand Gaming for breaches of information responsibility, as well as disclosing the finding of a recent survey which aimed to examine the playing habits of individuals across the country.
Both group’s were found to have breached section 17 of the Spelinspektionen’s general guidelines on gaming liability, which it says was “because the logo for limiting deposits (gaming budget) and determining login time was missing in the logged-out mode on the company’s regular and mobile-adapted websites”.
It is added that More Tech Group also violated sections seven and eight of the regulations and general guidelines on commercial online gambling and betting, regarding licensees’ information responsibility due to the lack of certain contact information on the website’s home page.
In it acknowledged that both group’s have taken corrective measures, however, the regulator adds “that the violation is not to be regarded as serious, but neither as minor nor excusable,” with reprimands deemed a worthy sanction.
Multi Brand Gaming offers games via the multilotto.com and multilotto.se websites, while More Tech Group does so through the superlottoclub.com portal.
Furthermore, the Authority has also disclosed the finding of a survey, conducted in collaboration with SKOP, which produces political and economic reports and surveys, which quizzed more than 3,000 over 18 year olds about their online gaming habits.
However, the regulator notes that “several of the questions have few answers, which means that certain results should be interpreted with caution”.
The survey found that approximately one in three (32 per cent) play online at least once a quarter, with one in four doing so every month or more often and 16 per cent accessing gaming sites on a weekly basis. Of those who play at least once a quarter, 19 per cent are said to have increased their gambling compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Seven per cent of those who play online at least once a quarter state that they did so on a site that does not have a Swedish gaming license, with 12 per cent issuing uncertainty on licence status.
Of those who played on sites without a Swedish license, 47 per cent searched for gaming sites on the internet, 31 per cent received tips from other players and 31 per cent saw advertisements.
25 per cent playing on sites without a Swedish gaming license cite the offer of other odds and winning opportunities as key reason for doing so. Other players choose such gaming sites due to bonus offers (21 per cent), that they are blocked on Spelpaus.se (20 per cent), or to avoid the deposit limit of SEK 5,000 per week.
However, SKOP does note that “the questions that were asked only to those who during the past three months have played on a gaming site that does not have a Swedish gaming license have been answered by about 60 people”.
