BOS Calls on Spelinspektionen to Revisit Ambiguous Responsible Gambling Proposals

Sweden’s Trade Association for Online Gambling has urged the regulator Spelinspektionen to reconsider multiple elements of its draft proposals on technical requirements for responsible gambling tools. In a letter shared with SBC News, the association welcomed the effort to modernise Sweden’s framework but flagged several provisions as ambiguous, lacking evidence, or likely to create unnecessary operational burdens.

Gustaf Hoffstedt, Secretary General of BOS, outlined targeted revisions centered on the full chain of player engagement. The feedback stresses that effective rules must remain practical for licensees while directing stronger interventions only at those showing clear risk.

Concerns with Specific Risk Detection Rules

BOS labeled the proposal to treat play between 00:00-06:00 as an automatic marker of potential harm as arbitrary and unsupported by data. The group noted that sports betting routinely occurs overnight because of international schedules, making blanket assumptions unreasonable.

The association also challenged the regulator’s suggested use of the gap between stakes and winnings to detect harmful play. BOS explained that winnings are often reused for continued betting rather than representing fresh out-of-pocket losses. It proposed deposits and withdrawals as the primary metric instead, with stakes and winnings serving only as supplementary indicators of intensity.

Further objections addressed the mandatory suspension of accounts when operators cannot confirm that a player received feedback on potential harm. BOS called this disproportionate, particularly if behavior has already improved, and recommended passive confirmations such as verified message views or observed activity changes.

On customer interactions, BOS argued that staff lack medical qualifications to diagnose signs of mental illness. Interventions should therefore rest solely on explicit statements made by the player. The trade body additionally opposed halving the inactivity logout timer to one hour from the prior two-hour standard, citing absence of scientific backing and risks of player frustration plus distorted monitoring.

Path to Proportionate and Collaborative Rules

BOS recommended forming a working group of operators, aid organisations, researchers and other stakeholders to share practical insights on risk indicators and balanced protection strategies. Hoffstedt stated: “In order for the regulations to have the intended effect, they need to be clear, proportionate, technology-neutral and practically feasible. Strong player protection requires that the licensed market remains attractive to players without identified risk indicators. The focus should therefore be on proportionate and risk-based measures, with more intrusive interventions directed at those players who actually show signs of risky or excessive gambling.”

These points illustrate where the current draft risks imposing friction on non-problematic play and underscore the value of evidence-driven adjustments before finalisation.

Reporting: SBC News

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