Social Democrats’ Lottery Accused of Targeting Seniors in Sweden

A lottery that helps raise funds for a political party in Sweden was recently accused of targeting the elderly with the use of forceful tactics to sell tickets.

Aggressive Selling Tactics

The peculiar case involved the Kombispel lottery, Sweden Social Democrats’ subscription-based lottery that generates proceeds for the political party. Earlier this month, the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported that the lottery engaged with a telemarketing company that used an unusual approach to pressure adults into buying lottery tickets.

Reportedly, the party hired a Barcelona-based company, that allegedly pressured its employees to engage in aggressive tactics when selling tickets to the elderly. The aforementioned media report based its report on claims made by several former employees of the company.

Currently, the Kombispel lottery operates under a subscription model, enabling its clients to receive new lottery tickets via mail or digitally every month. The initial price to sign up for the lottery is significantly lower than the recurring subscription and that was reportedly one of the facts that was concealed when selling to elderly customers.

Allegedly, the telemarketers who sold the subscription lottery promoted the initial sign-up which was lower than the recurring subscription. They also reportedly concealed the fact that subscribers need to contact the lottery themselves if they want to end their subscription.

Gambling Regulator Looks Into the Allegations, Lottery Dismisses Exec

In light of the recent report, Spelinspektionen, the Swedish gambling regulator, issued a statement explaining that the Kombispel lottery is operated jointly by three political parties. According to the gambling regulator, while it is in charge of supervising license holders, the parties that operate the lottery are “responsible for ensuring that the gaming business is conducted in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.”

Spelinspektionen added that it doesn’t currently have a “supervisory case” regarding the lottery’s actions but it “is working to form an image of the information that has appeared in the media.” The watchdog reiterated that it does not have “any legal support to exercise direct supervision of telemarketing companies or other collaboration partners of the license holders.”

Spelinspektionen also said that it shares supervision responsibility regarding gambling marketing with the Swedish Consumer Agency. However, it said that the Agency is an expert authority and also has “the primary responsibility for supervising moderate marketing.”

After the accusations about targeting elderly customers emerged, the Kombispel lottery’s CEO, Jonas Lindholm, was fired. In his place, the party selected Jonas Nygren, who was tasked with overseeing the lottery’s activities.