The New Year is only a few more days away and for our Swedish readers this might mean a bit more than fireworks and good intentions. With the New Year Sweden is also introducing new gambling regulation, SFS 2018:1138 to be precise. Read on to find out what this means for you.

Most important changes

These are the most important changes which come into effect with the new gambling law:

  • Age limit will be 18+ to play online and 21+ to get entry to a physical casino
  • Six different types of licenses offered
  • License prices will vary from 400 000 – 700 000 SEK
  • Companies will pay 18% tax for commercial gaming
  • 0% tax rate for non-profit gambling activities

The main goal for the new gambling law is ofcourse to generate more government revenue. The added benefit being the creation of a safer market by improving game security, consumer protection and so on. By the way, the above mentioned six different types of licensing include:

License type Games included Restrictions
1 State owned games Casino games, slot games and some lottery Only for state owned companies
2 Public purpose games Some types of lotteries Only for non-profit organisations
3 Commercial online games Casino games, slot machines and bingo online Any company filling the quality criterias
4 Betting All types of online and offline betting Any company filling the quality criterias
5 Commercial landbased games Slot games and card games outside a casino Any company filling the quality criterias
6 Cruise ship games Casino games and slot machines Ships on international waters

Impact for the player

Let’s start with the good news. With the introduction of the new license system every Swedish player counts as a new player, so in practice you can re-register with your favorite casino to get a new welcome bonus. Be aware: it’s probably best to check and confirm this via the live chat functionality of your online casino. Unfortunately, the new legislation also mentions that only a one time welcome bonus can be offered to customers meaning Swedish players will no longer be eligible for free spins, loyalty bonuses and so on. Switching online casino sites at regular time intervals might therefore become more important and your only option to enjoy bonuses. We would like to suggest to our Swedish players to register with every casino on our Top 10 Casino list to enjoy multiple registration bonuses. Finally players will have the ability to pause their accounts nationwide in a single action.

Please leave a comment to let us know your thoughts about the new Swedish gambling law.