The Swedish Gaming Inspectorate is unsure whether Sweden’s deposit ceiling has had an effect
The Gaming InspectorateSweden’s gaming authority, has talked about the country’s recently repealed deposit cap. The regulator said it was impossible to determine whether it had a beneficial effect or not.
The Swedish Gaming Inspectorate examined the effects of Sweden’s deposit ceiling
The deposit ceiling in question was introduced in July 2020 because the government was worried that the quarantine would make people play more. The regulation stipulated that players may not deposit more than 5,000 SEK (528 USD) one month, regardless of income. While some praised the measure, others were not happy with it.
Fortunately for the latter, the deposit ceiling was removed in November last year. When this happened, the supervisory authority was asked to review whether the measures had any effect – useful or not. This led the Swedish Gaming Inspectorate to carefully examine the various data and statistics in recent months and see if there are any noticeable trends in gaming behavior.
The authority examined whether the measure reduced gambling problems and whether the operators complied with it. It inquired about observations from various other bodies, including the Swedish Enforcement Agency, the Swedish Public Health Agency and the Swedish Consumer Agency.
The Swedish Gaming Inspectorate appealed to several other authorities and tried to paint a bigger picture of the effects of the mortgage ceiling. The supervisory authority also talked to the country’s operators and even compared all the data it received with data from the Danish gaming market.
The Swedish Gaming Inspectorate cannot give a decisive answer
The Swedish Gaming Inspectorate finally said that it is not possible to say with certainty whether the deposit ceiling has had an effect, mainly due to the eventful nature of recent years. Therefore, the regulator concluded that it is impossible to determine whether any fluctuation in the figures was caused by the implementation of a deposit ceiling or was the result of other factors.
The authority was more decisive on several other observations. It noted that the overall gambling problems remained more or less unchanged during the pandemic and were noticeably higher among iGaming players. In addition, the majority of operators remained compatible, although some of their peers tried to legally exploit the system. Players tended to prefer the licensed operators, although the authority was not sure if this was due to the deposit ceiling or other factors.
The Swedish Gaming Inspectorate called on operators to draw their conclusions on how the deposit ceiling affected the market.
Finally, the Swedish Gaming Inspectorate drew attention to the fact that the controversial deposit limit did not apply to how much a player can deposit in total, but rather how much a player can deposit per operator. This means that dedicated players can only play with many companies and thus circumvent the roof. The regulator said that if an additional deposit ceiling needs to be implemented in the future, it is best for all licensees.