The Finnish gaming operator wants Sweden to introduce an advertising ban on gambling and tax increases
Posted on: 13 Jul 2022, 11:14 pm.
Last updated: July 13, 2022, 11:14.
Sweden has taken a more relaxed approach to online gaming than many other European countries. However, a Finland-based, government-led operator, Ålands Penningautomatförening (Paf), wants the country to introduce more controls, not less.
The operator participated in Almedalen Week, an annual political gathering in Sweden, last week. It organized a discussion on gambling policy under the heading “The sector we love to hate.” In it, Paf proposed raising the gambling tax, banning large amounts of gambling advertising and stopping gambling ads in connection with sports.
Present were members of parliament who represented different parties. All politicians agreed, according to Paf, that Sweden’s licensed online gaming market is much better than it was when it was unregulated. However, adjustments may be necessary.
Squeezes down
Paf presented a proposal for a program for game control in Sweden during the seminar. However, a number of points can lead to drastic changes in the country’s market.
Christer Fahlstedt, Paf’s CEO, said during the discussion that gaming advertising is the main reason for the gaming industry’s bad reputation. He believes that Sweden should follow in the footsteps of other countries, such as Belgium, which has limited advertising.
A reduction in advertising, which includes sponsorship, means reduced revenue for sports organizations. For that, Fahlstedt suggested a way to compensate for the difference.
He suggested that the gambling tax should be raised and moved from 18% to 21%. However, none of the panelists showed great enthusiasm for the idea.
Many politicians wanted to differentiate between advertising for different forms of gambling. For example, according to their estimates, lotteries and betting are often portrayed as less dangerous.
Fahlstedt does not agree. He said that gambling is always gambling, and made a vain attempt to compare it with alcohol. He argued that it is not possible to “sell light beer to alcoholics”, even if the analogy sounds hollow. Since Sweden’s gaming industry is overwhelmingly healthy, there are significantly more leisure players than addicts.
Fortunately for the gaming industry, Fahlstedt did not find much support. Sweden’s Member of Parliament Angelic Lundberg said: “Our party supports the ordinance we have today and we want to appoint a proper investigation after five years to fix what is needed.”
Another MEP, Daniel Wykman, added that the current system is “as good as it can get. But he also realized that there is always an opportunity to explore alternatives.” I would give it 2.5 points on a five-point scale. You have to adjust the margins in it, Wykman said.
Paf on the wrong side of gambling
It is unusual for a gaming operator to propose an increase in taxes. However, Paf, which is licensed in Finland, Sweden, Spain and other jurisdictions, is a different type of company. It is owned by the government of Åland in Finland in an attempt to raise money for various civil and cultural programs.
Paf was reportedly the first operator to introduce loss limits. In 2018, according to Game intelligenceit set an annual upper threshold of € 30,000 ($ 30,288). As it is a state-run company, Paf claims that everything it does is about responsible gaming.
However, this is not always the case. Last year, Finland beat the company by one a fine of EUR 250,000 ($ 252,000) due to allegations of negligence in its anti-money laundering protocols (AML).
An individual customer occasionally deposited as much as € 20,000 ($ 20,162). Over a nine-month period, the individual deposited € 580,000 ($ 584,524). Paf knew about the deposits, verified that the individual did not have the income to support the amounts, but eventually dropped the question from the radar.
A Finnish court initially wanted to prosecute the then CEO of Paf for violating the AML rules. But in the end, it was just focused on the company.
Sweden does not have a big problem with gambling, according to Bio Med Central. Approximately 1.3% of the population “experienced gambling problems” per data from 2018. As a result, there does not seem to be a strong basis for Paf’s proposal that the country needs to exert more pressure on its gaming industry.