Gambling Regulations in Sweden

Sweden is located in the north part of Europe, called Scandinavia. The other countries that make Scandinavia are: Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Greenland, Svalbard and the Faroe Islands. The economy of Sweden is highly developed, the educational system works very well. The country has been ranked on the sixth place in the world as the best country for living. The factors for this qualification are: Infrastructure, access to education and culture, employment, technologies, transport and quality of life.

The population of Sweden is around 10 million and the annual Gross Domestic product is $517 - $571 billion.

Legal regulations concerning online casino gambling

Swedish residents are allowed to gamble online at casinos in Sweden and abroad where online gambling is legal and it is licensed. For example Malta and Gibraltar.

Swedish residents who decide to play at an international online casino can do it at Guts  and PlayFrank Casino as Gambling Authority in Sweden does not control international operators. According to the Swedish legislation it is illegal for an online casino to run by a Swedish company and provide online casino games to Swedish residents.

Taxation of the online gambling

The law for taxing the online casino gambling in Sweden is quite strange. You need to pay tax or not it depends on where the casino has been licensed.

Our recommendation is to play at an online casino with an European gaming license, such as Malta Gaming Authority and you can avoid paying tax on your winnings.

Play at a-MGA licensed online casino to avoid paying taxes on all your winnings (because it might happen that you lose more than you have won)

This why we hardly recommend to play at Thrills and Casumo Casino.

Swedish Lotteries Act

The government in Sweden under the Lotteries Act and Swedish Gambling Authority (Lotteriinspektionen) controls seriously the local land-based gambling activities. The Lotteries Act in Sweden covers State and international lottery tickets, slots machines, guessing, betting, roulette games, bingo games, dice and card games too.

Swedish Gambling Authority completely controls any form of casino gaming land based or online. Its control goes over free play, fun play, demo play and social casino games, for example on facebook.com or games on mobiles.

Swedish Casino Act

The Casino Act refers to permit for installation and operation of gambling machines in fixed location such as restaurants, bars and hotels, as well as games in temporary locations for public amusements.

The Casino Act arranges issues, as the way winnings are paid, children under 18 are not allowed to gamble, permits for casino game license. Only State owned operators can be licensed.

Current License Operators in Sweden

AB Svenska Spel and ATG (AB Trav och Galopp) are the only operators with gambling license in Sweden. AB Svenska Spel is the National Lottery of Sweden. It is owned entirely by the government.

ATG is the Swedish authority that runs all betting on horse racing. This operator is highly influenced by the government as well.

In four big Swedish towns there are land based casinos: Stockholm, Malmo, Sundsvall and Gothenburg. Svenska Spel company operates and controls lotteries and games through more than 10 thousand smaller agents, bars, restaurants, hotels etc.

The control under the Casino Act and the Lotteries Act is very strict referring licensing agreement, for example promoting unlawful international lotteries by advertising, selling tickets and paying prizes connected to such lotteries. The punishment is either fines or jail or both. According to the Law the maximum jail term for a licensed operator caught in breaking their agreement is  imprisonment for 2 years.

End of Gambling Monopoly in Sweden

The government in Sweden is investigating an open market policy referring the online casino gambling licenses, as it was announced at the end of March, 2017.

The new bill can come into force in January 2019. It contains the next key elements:

• The license can be only valid for online casino gaming;
• GGR will be taxed by flat taxation rate of 18%;
• Ranging from SEK60,000-SEK700,000 ($7,000-$80,000) as annual license fee on the base of turnover and number of provided games;
• A fee ranging from SEK30,000-SEK1 million ($3,500-$115,000) for annual supervision.

Obviously such a drastic change in state driven licensing in Sweden has been welcomed by ATG and Svenska Spel. It is clear that the government controls strictly the regulated gambling, but does not take any actions against Swedish residents who gamble online nor the international operators who provide unregulated online casino gambling.