Sweden to launch B2B gambling software licences and double renewal fees

Sweden is looking to introduce mandatory gambling software licences while raising renewal fees for operators to cover regulatory costs.

The Swedish government has provided more details of its plans to overhaul its gaming licensing regime. The government intends to introduce mandatory gaming software licences for companies that supply gambling operators in Sweden and to raise licence renewal fees for operators.

According to the Social Security Ministry, the proposal to introduce B2B supplier licences is intended as a measure to control unlicensed gambling in the country. It has suggested that the licence fee would be SEK120,000 (€11,170) and that around 70 software licences would be issued initially.

The government has launched a consultation on how the system would work, with the regime expected to come into effect on March 1 next year. It said it expected the licence procedure and fees to have no more than a “marginal effect” on competition.

“The proposals are not considered to have any other effects of significance for the licence or licensee’s working conditions, competitiveness or conditions in general,” the government said.

Gaming licence renewal fee to double

Meanwhile, the government plans to double gaming operator licence renewal fees from SEK300,000 to SEK600,000 (€55,000) in order to fund the national gambling regulator Spelinspektionen. According to the regulator’s annual report published last week, Spelinspektionen received SEK7.3m in application fees in 2021, but the cost of processing the applications was SEK21.5m.

The government stressed that the proposed fee is still “relatively low” for the size of Sweden’s online gaming market and would not seriously affect operators. It said that all licence fees would only reach 0.03 per cent of total turnover.

The government said: “The current fee for renewing a licence for both commercial online gaming and betting does not take into account the Swedish Gaming Inspectorate’s actual costs. In principle, the same processing measures need to be taken in the case of a renewal of a licence as in the case of a new application.

“Among other things, all checks must be carried out again in the event of a licence renewal. In addition, the gaming companies’ organisation and staff are seldom the same as on the previous application, which means that Spelinspektionen must test whether the new people and organisation meet requirements.

“With this background, Spelinspektionen’s costs for processing an application for renewal of a licence are judged to be only marginally lower than its costs for processing a new application.”

Meanwhile, Sweden’s Supreme Administrative Court has agreed to hear an appeal on a sanction imposed on an online gambling operator by Spelinspektionen. The regulator appealed to the court after lower courts reduced the size of a fine it issued against Genesis Global in 2019 for self-exclusion violations.

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