Kindred suggests a privatization of the Svenska Spel online branch

With the trend of liberalization in the gambling industry, Kindred Group urges the Swedish government to go a step further and sell the state-owned Svenska Spel. Up until this year, the monopoly over gambling activities in Sweden belonged to Svenska Spel. It was founded in 1997 when Penninglotteriet merged with Tipstjänst. The company is responsible for over 6,700 agents and 2000 restaurants as well as many pubs and bingo halls. It also provides some online services. There are four casinos in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö, and Sundsvall that are directly operated by the subsidiary of Svenska Spel – Cosmopol Casino. Profits from these casinos, as well as all the other operations of Svenska Spel, go directly to the Swedish Treasury.

Svenska Spel’s monopoly lasted until this year when the government decided to shift from the previous model to a regulated market where private providers are also able to offer their services to the customers. This move was necessary as the number of illegal activities in the gambling market grew. Furthermore, it was becoming very difficult to stop internationally licensed online companies from accessing the Swedish market. “Unregulated gambling has taken over and gambling is used in criminal activities. It is 14 years since the first in a line of gambling inquiries was appointed. It is now time for us to move from words to actions and regain control of the Swedish gambling market,” – commented Ardalan Shekarabi, the Scandinavian nation’s Minister for Public Administration. The authorities already started accepting applications for licenses and the companies who receive them will be allowed to enter the market starting next year.

As stated on https://NyeCasino.ninja/, with the new regulatory framework, the gambling market in Sweden will be divided into three business compartments. The licensed privately owned providers will be allowed to enter the open/competitive market. There will be certain activities, like bingo and lottery, reserved for the companies operating in the public interest and the third compartment will be exclusive to the state-owned companies.

Kindred Group wants the Swedish authorities to go even further with the liberalization of the gambling market

Kindred Group, which is an online gambling operator comprised of 11 brands including 32Red and Unibet, is urging the Swedish government to sell Svenska Spel. The company is listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange and has made over 700 million euros in revenue in 2017. Peter Alling, the Head of Public Affairs at the Kindred Group commented on the new regulations: “The government proposition to Parliament is just one part of the reform. The reform intends to keep the market divided in one-part open to competition and one part exclusive to NGOs and governmental operator Svenska Spel. Since the current entity, Svenska Spel is to act on both the exclusive and the competitive market, it is from a competition law pov extremely important that Svenska Spel is split into two independent entities. The Ministry of Enterprise (owner of Svenska Spel) and the Ministry of Finance (responsible for legislation on gambling) has so far acted in opposite directions. Here, the government still has a responsibility it can’t avoid. Failure to deal professionally with the split, not adhering to basic competition regulations, will seriously endanger the outcome of the reform.”

Mr. Alling is effectively arguing that it is uncompetitive to allow the state-owned Svenska Spel to participate in both the open/competitive market and in the compartment reserved exclusively for it. A solution to this issue would be to privatize the part of the company that will be operating in direct competition with the privately owned licensed providers.

Click here to read the initial article on Nyecasino.ninja. More info also available here: https://www.igamingbusiness.com/news/kindred-group-finally-ready-swedish-launch