Interactive
Sweden – Svenska Spel stops all advertising of its online gaming sites
By Phil - 10 April 2019
Swedish, state-owned gambling group Svenska Spel has stopped all advertising of its online gaming site, across all of its media channels.
CEO Patrik Hofbauer said the decision was taken following ‘intensive internal discussions’ which determined that online gaming posed a greater risk to its customers.
Mr. Hofbauer said: “Svenska Spel has always pushed the line that all the games in the licensed market risk should be classified based on risk levels, and that stricter rules should apply for the more risky games, both in terms of design and marketing. By ending advertising for online casino, we are now taking the plunge. Our online casino advertising already had a restrictive design, but now we have chosen to completely stop advertising for the rest of the year.”
The operator, which until recently held a monopoly in Sweden, wants rival online operators to do the same.
“If you are serious about taking responsibility, then you should address the problems where the problems exist, even if it strikes the revenue in the short term,” Mr Hofbauer said. “In the long term, this is the only sustainable one. It is also only when we can improve the industry’s reputation. We would like more gaming companies to join a promotional stop for online casino. It would show that the gaming industry is taking consumer protection seriously.”
