Sweden’s National Audit Office (NAO) says the country’s gambling regulator is “not effective enough” in monitoring both the licensed and unlicensed market – but insisted the government is not free of blame either.
That Spelinspektionen carries out “too few inspections” is its “biggest shortcoming,” the NAO said.
Hedvig Tängdén, project manager for the review, said Spelinspektionen should base its supervisory planning on a “systematic risk analysis,” which is not currently in place, to improve monitoring.
Failing to follow up on the results of supervisory decisions is another “significant” Spelinspektionen shortcoming, with only one follow-up carried out in the last five years, the NAO said. The regulator therefore “does not know” whether errors have been rectified and “lacks knowledge” about whether resources are being used “cost-effectively.”
“The shortcomings are partly due to the priorities that the Gambling Authority has chosen to make,” the review said. “The authority emphasises that new government assignments and other activities crowd out the possibilities to carry out supervision to the desired extent.”
Spelinspektionen director general Camilla Rosenberg said that its receipt of increased funds will be a “decisive factor” in improving the regulatory landscape.
She added: “We welcome the National Audit Office's review and since the reregulation have carried out ongoing change work and still have work to do.
“We can look back on six very intense years with a new framework legislation, new actors and new tasks in a completely new regulation. Several issues are still awaiting practice in court.”
Although, the National Audit Office also applies a portion of the blame onto the government.
It said; “In order to maintain the legitimacy of the system, it is important to have an effective sanction system with quick and tangible reactions to violations of the regulatory framework.
“However, supervision is made more difficult by the fact that the gambling law is unclear, which has opened up a grey gambling market in Sweden.”
Gardberg Morner, director of the National Audit Office, said: “The government should clarify in which cases online gambling requires a licence. That would facilitate the supervisory work.”
The NAO has advised the government to ensure that Spelinspektionen has the conditions to carry out effective supervision to a “sufficient extent.”
It also wants the government to ensure that “reliable and fair” information is produced about the scope and results of the supervision.
The government should investigate the issue of the Gambling Act’s scope of application jn order to “clarify” where the Act is applied in online gambling, the NAO added.
Spelinspektionen said it is working to “develop and streamline processes and routines.”
“In the business plan for the current year, we prioritize continued development by streamlining processes, routines and system support as well as the work with risk analyses/risk assessments,” it said.
“The authority has also made organisational changes during the year to further strengthen the environmental analysis work.”
