The Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling (BOS) has slammed the government’s proposed increase in online casino deposit limitations.
Ardalan Shekarabi, Sweden’s Minister of Social Security, said a proposal to reduce players’ weekly deposit limit from SEK 5,000 ($548.76) to SEK 4,000 is on the way.
However, the BOS has spoken out against the measure, urging the government to reconsider its plans. The new restriction, according to Gustaf Hoffstedt, Secretary General of the Trade Association, will simply encourage players to register accounts with additional operators, making it more difficult to monitor their behaviour.
“The way the system is set up, players who wish to play for more money than the suggested limit would open new gaming accounts with other gaming businesses,” Hoffstedt explained.
“Before the deposit restrictions, you only played with one or two gaming firms; however, after the limits were implemented, the number of gaming companies per individual player has increased dramatically.”
“Thus, the statutory duty of care, which aims for the gaming company to acquire an overall picture of gaming behaviour and offer support to at-risk players, is lost.”
The BOS has been critical of Shekarabi in the past. In June 2021, the Trade Association lambasted the Minister’s “unfounded” claim that there was an increase in online gambling during the pandemic, which was used to justify temporary restrictions.
Regarding this latest proposal, Hoffstedt added: “When gambling becomes as fragmented as it becomes with deposit limits, no individual gaming company can capture risky gaming behaviour, and thus a cornerstone of Swedish consumer protection in the gaming law is lost.”