EU Commission sues Sweden over Online Gambling Laws
Published on by Becky Mosley
On Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014, the European Union (EU) Commission started legal proceedings against the whole nation of Sweden because of its failure to adequately change its rules governing both online betting and poker games. The EU Commission confirms that this failure is a breach of the free movement of those types of services for users on the internet.
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An executive from the EU Commission pointed Sweden to two separate cases that took place in the highest court of Europe. Both of these involved restrictions of the gambling license to only state-owned and domestic operators. A representative from the Commission stated that Sweden is imposing restrictions on both the organisation of online betting services as well as the promotion of those services in ways that are contradictory to EU laws. The statement went on to say that the changes to the Swedish gambling laws, were designed to make them more compliant with the larger European Union law, have never been implemented in any way shape or form.
Laws
Under the Nation’s current laws, they will only grant operational licenses for online betting, poker games and similar types of gaming to entities that are owned by the state, as well as domestic operators. It is the opinion of the EU Commission that these restrictions dramatically conflict with the free movement of those services and as a result, the legal action is taking place. As the current law states (regarding the topic in the EU), its 28 member states are allowed to impose restrictions on the supply of some types of gambling activity with regards to cross-border actions. These restrictions are designed to prevent crime and protect consumers against the terrible affects of gambling addiction, so long as those restrictions are deemed both “suitable” and “necessary.” Representatives from the Swedish Government responded to the legal proceedings by indicated that work to help create a licensing system that could be introduced to address these and similar issues, would be made a priority.