Swedish Gambling Authority Launches Campaign to Promote Licensed Operators

The Swedish Gambling Authority (SGA), Spelinspektionen, has started a new campaign called “Unnecessarily Exciting” to increase awareness about the need to choose licensed gambling operators. 

New Animated Campaign Warns Against Unlicensed Gambling

The campaign includes two animated videos that aim to educate consumers about the risks of unlicensed gambling sites and encourage them to use regulated platforms.

The campaign seeks to inform people about the possible dangers of gambling with companies without Swedish licenses. It wants to point out problems like the lack of consumer protection on unlicensed platforms and the financial risks involved. The two short animated videos will show up on social media throughout December and keep going until 2025.

One of the videos shows a man running from a polar bear in the Arctic. He then appears in an airport with money in hand pointing to a travel spot he wants to visit on a globe. The animation ends with this message: “If you gamble for money, play safe. Choose a gambling company with a Swedish gambling license.” This fun, yet powerful, message aims to promote licensed operators.

Yvonne Hejdenberg, who leads communications at SGA, said the campaign is part of a long-term plan to raise awareness and shift how consumers act. She stressed how important it is to use animation to share these messages with the public.

Swedish Regulator Enhances Website to Highlight Benefits of Licensed Gambling

Along with the videos, the SGA has made changes to its website to give more in-depth information about the perks of gambling with a licensed operator. The website showcases the safeguards that Swedish-licensed firms must follow, like fair payout rules and safe transactions. It also cautions about the risks of betting with unlicensed operators such as the chance of not getting your winnings and helping illegal activities, like money laundering.

Additionally, people who gamble on unlicensed websites might have to pay taxes on any winnings. Unlike winnings from licensed operators, which you do not pay tax on, money from unregulated sources gets taxed at 30% putting the player at risk of legal trouble.

This new move by the SGA is part of an ongoing push to steer players from the black market to licensed sites. The authority’s work lines up with similar drives kicked off by regulators in other European nations, like the Netherlands and Germany, as they gear up for the busy holiday period.

The SGA’s new push comes after recent reports hinting that the country’s channelization rate, which shows how much gambling happens with licensed operators is still under the government’s 90% goal. This underscores the need to keep educating and raising awareness to create a safer and more regulated gambling scene in Sweden.