Swedish football association falters to control betting markets

The efforts of Sweden’s football governing body Svenska Fotbollförbundets (Svff) control the betting markets could falter at the legal intervention.

The Administrative Court of Appeal has rejected the leave for appeal a recent ruling and upheld the original verdict.

The original challenge, filed in December 2018, saw the Svff attempt to have the process to issue betting licences halted, to order Swedish gambling regulator Spelinspektionen to introduce new restrictions on the types of bets that companies could offer.

It argued that licensees should be blocked from offering odds on in-game events such as the number of yellow cards or corner kicks awarded in lower-division domestic football games. This, Svff claimed, would encourage match-fixing.

Spelinspektionen had argued against such a move, saying that as the country’s gambling regulatory authority it alone had the power to decide on licence restrictions. The Administrative Court, and subsequently Court of Appeals, shared the regulator’s view.