Svenska Spel to terminate all online casino ads in a bid to address concerns over the growing number of online casino players with problem gambling behavior
Swedish gambling operator Svenska Spel has decided to stop advertising its online casino product through the rest of the year in a bid to better protect its customers amid growing pressure from the government.
The company, which was one of the few businesses authorized to operate in Sweden up until early this year, said in a Monday statement that its decision will affect its marketing campaigns across all media channels, including television, the Internet, and print media.
Svenska Spel also noted that it has already put certain limitations to the way it has been promoting its products, but after “intensive internal discussions” has decided that putting an end to all its online casino marketing campaigns was the right decision as part of its effort to protect its customers.
The major gambling operator said that the recently published results of a survey conducted by Sweden’s Public Health Agency (Folkhälsomyndigheten) have prompted the revision of its approach toward online casino advertising.
While the study showed that the overall number of problem gamblers has dropped in Sweden since 2015 when the last such study was carried out, there were certain worrying trends that Svenska Spel apparently wants to address.
News about the operator nixing all ads of its online casino product came on the heels of last week’s announcement that Svenska Spel controlled 85% of Sweden’s newly regulated market two months after the country’s new gambling law took force.
Worrying Online Casino Stats
Svenska Spel said Monday that its decision to terminate all online casino ads was prompted by the Public Health Authority’s findings that the online casino sector was the one that presented the greatest risk to Swedish gamblers.
According to the agency’s study, 30% of all Swedish online casino players found it difficult to curb their gambling habit. That compared to 3% of scratchcard and Lotto players.
Commenting on the company’s move, CEO Patrik Hofbauer said that while there might not be a direct link between gambling advertising and problem gambling, people whose gambling patterns indicate problem behavior might feel triggered by adverts. Mr. Hofbauer went on that this is why Svenska Spel has decided to stop advertising the riskiest gambling product among people already showing problem gambling patterns.
Licensed gambling operators have been facing growing regulatory and government pressure over their advertising campaigns across Swedish media in the months after the re-organization of the market.
Sweden’s Minister for Public Administration Ardalan Shekarabi has even warned that restrictions on gambling ads might be on the way as he is determined to put an end to the aggressive advertising of gambling services.
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