Kindred Group disapproves of Sweden’s new proposed gaming restrictions
Kindred Group has responded to the Swedish government’s proposal to reintroduce liability measures by saying that this type of temporary restriction will have a detrimental effect on consumers. Instead of protecting consumers and improving protection measures, Kindred believes the measures will undermine current progress.
The measures were proposed on 4 January
The Ministry of Finance proposed temporary restrictions as a way to combat the increase in public health problems related to gambling during the pandemic. One of these restrictions is a weekly ceiling for online slots, which is likely to be around $ 440 (SEK 4,000).
These temporary measures may take effect on February 7, depending on progress, and may be implemented until June 2022. In addition to the weekly limit for online slots, time limits at both online and land-based casinos and a loss limit for games outside of a casino have proposed.
Bonuses and promotions were not left out of the equation because the proposal states that the maximum value of a bonus should not exceed $ 10 (100 SEK). Limits similar to those proposed now have been set in June 2020, when the government introduced a deposit ceiling of $ 50 (500 SEK) and it was met with quite a lot of criticism.
Kindred is not the only organization that is dissatisfied with the proposal
In a written response to the Swedish government, sent on 19 January, Kindred criticized this proposal by stating that it would weaken consumer protection. The answer says that the restrictions for the online casino do not “meet the criteria for evidence-based policy-making.”
It said that the current proposal does not establish facts or evidence, which is why Kindred is struggling to find something positive to consider the proposal as decent. One of the objections from Kindred, which recently ceased to serve Dutch players, is that licensed operators will not be able to fulfill their obligations, and players can be encouraged to register and play with unlicensed operators, just to avoid these restrictions.
This will lead to low-level implementation and will not benefit the industry. In the written statement, Kindred concluded that if restrictions are a must, the simplest solution would be to introduce the same measures during the previous blocking period.
Kindred is no stranger to funding awareness-raising campaigns in many areas, and it is not the only company to have criticized the proposed measures. The industry association for online gaming (BOS), the Swedish online gaming association, had a similar attitude as Kindred in the matter. The country’s gaming supervisory authority, the Swedish Gaming Inspectorate, did not oppose the proposed restrictions, even though it stated that the effects were unknown.