Swedish gaming regulator seeks to understand consumers better

The Swedish Gaming Regulator, Spelinspektionen, has conducted a survey reaching out to 4,400 nationals in the country and petitioning them about their gambling habits online. The survey sought to further strengthen the regulator’s understanding of how Swedish gamblers interact with real money products online and what their general attitude towards the industry is.

The findings can help Spelinspektionen advise, inform, and guide policies that could have a long-lasting impact on the industry and improve the existing gambling framework for all consumers. One in three Swedish nationals tends to bet at least once a month. 25% of all respondents are said to be betting at least once a week, the survey’s findings showed.

The majority of respondents agreed that licensed gambling operators are the best and their own preferred choice. 55% of respondents said that security and control were very important, and they trusted licensed entities for this reason. 53% said that they saw licensed gambling operators as trustworthy in general and as committed to fulfilling their terms.

Spelinspektionen thought was clever, and it sought to better understand why some consumers chose offshore and unregulated gambling websites if the local markets were apparently much safer. The survey established that for 32% of respondents, the markets offered in the home market were simply insufficient.

Another 26% complained that Spelpaus had blocked them out of any gambling, which is an interesting finding as it can help the self-exclusion program act better to prevent gambling harm and not arguably push consumers into the claws of unregulated operators. But the majority of Swedes remain very much gung-ho against unregulated gambling websites.

77% of all respondents confirmed unequivocally that they would not play on any website that may be lacking a proper Swedish license in the first place. Spelinspektionen showed interest in specifically how unregulated websites were being made available to consumers.

Based on the surveys, 35% came from internet searches, 27% were the result of targeted advertising and another 36% were based on a word of mouth. The information is quite valuable though for any regulator that may attempt to actually fight the offshore gambling sector.

It could help guide bans against certain brands and affiliates, similar to what ACMA is doing in Australia. It could more importantly, though, help Spelpaus, the self-exclusion program which has as many as 80,000 people in it, act better as a deterrent to problem gambling. Spelinspektionen is bound to continue to run similar surveys to inform its policies and regulate the industry better.

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