170705 “Everyone in agreement over new game rules?” (Swedish)
Are there any issues with a new licensing system in the gambling market and where do different actors come down on the ownership issue? These topics were discussed when BOS, in cooperation with Expressen, organized a seminar during the political week in Almedalen. Participants in the seminar were: Ardalan Shekarabi (S), Minister for Public Administration; Olov Lavesson (M), Chairman of the Committee on Cultural Affairs; Mikael Forsberg, advisor at Spelberoendes Riksförbund; and Pia Rosin, Director of Communications Betsson.
170703 “All on red – The economic cost of missed Swedish job opportunities in the online gambling industry”
On July 3 i Almedalen, the Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling hosted a seminar on the theme of the gambling industry and the labor market. Samuel Palmquist from Damvad Analytics presented the rapport “All on red – The economic cost of missed Swedish job opportunities in the online gambling industry” which the analytics firm have carried out on BOS’ order. Dawid Myslinski, Corporate Finance Advisor at Redeye, commented the report and gave his reflections on the industry in the present and future.
170612 “Strategies against match fixing – How do we stop manipulation of sports?”
On June 12, the Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling hosted a seminar where the current issue of match fixing was discussed by The Swedish Sports Confederation chairman Björn Eriksson, Kindreds Sports Betting Integrity Officer Eric Konings and journalist and writer Olof Lundh of TV4, C More och Fotbollskanalen.
170404 “After the Gambling Licence Inquiry – How are Sweden’s gambling stakeholders affected?” (Swedish)
On April 4, invited the Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling hosted a seminar where the Gambling License Inquiry’s Head Secretary, Maria Wennerberg-Sedigh, and expert Johan Röhr, gave a deeper insight into the proposal presented on 31 March. This was then discussed by a panel with Henrik Tjärnström, CEO of Kindred Group and Chairman of BOS; Joakim Mörnefält, Communications Director at Svenska Spel; Dan Persson, blogger at Idrottens Affärer; Magnus Berglund, blogger The Gambler Magazine.
170228 “How do we prevent problem gambling – Towards an individualized approach?” (English)
On February 28, the Trade Association for Online Gambling hosted a lunch seminar on prevention of problem gambling. Maris Bonello, Integrity Analytics Manager at Kindred, talked about of the great challenges for effective prevention of problem gambling and how Kindred is working to meet these. Psychologists Thomas Nilsson, Sustainable Interaction, and Mattias Ekenberg, Riksförbundet SpelKontroll, shared their views on the online gambling sector’s current efforts to prevent problem gambling and how innovations have enabled new tools to detect problematic gambling behavior and help those in need.
161201 “The gambling industry’s economic importance for Sweden” (Swedish)
On December 1, the Trade Association for Online Gambling hosted a lunch seminar where Henrik Jordahl, Associate Professor and Program Director at the Institute for Industrial Economics, and David Sundén, PhD, presented a new report in which they examine the Swedish online gambling industry’s ability to operate within the country. They conclude that a future reregulation of the gambling market should take into account the industrial perspective and gambling companies’ points of contact with other Swedish tech and Internet companies. The report was commented by Mathias Sundin (L), tax policy spokesperson whose work in the Swedish parliament often revolves around digitization issues, and Victoria Seemann, editorial writer at the Swedish News Agency (Svenska Nyhetsbyrån).
Read the full report here: Swedish version
161006 “Optimal gambling tax – what tax rate yields both high channeling and good tax revenues?” (Swedish)
On October 6, the Trade Association for Online Gambling hosted a lunch seminar where Copenhagen Economics presented its report that examines what tax rate on online games that combine a high level of channeling, i.e. a large proportion of Swedish online gambling occurring within the licensing system, with good tax revenues. The report makes both an international outlook that highlights the lessons that can be learned from other countries that have introduced licensing – especially about how tax affects channeling and tax revenues – and the report examines how specific market conditions in Sweden can be expected to influence the channeling and tax revenue – specifically how gambling companies and Swedish consumers can be expected to act at different tax rates. Pontus Lindwall, Chairman of Betsson AB, commented on the report’s conclusions.
Read the full report here: English version Swedish version
160706 “What is an optimal tax rate on the reregulated gambling market?” (Swedish)
An ongoing study conducted by Copenhagen Economics examines what tax rate provides an optimal balance between channeling and tax revenues in a reregulated gambling market. On July 6, BOS organized a seminar during the political week in Almedalen where David Nordström and Amanda Stefansdotter from Copenhagen Economics presented the first results of this work. Also participating in the seminar were members of the parliamentary Committee on Taxation Sara Karlsson (S) and Maria Malmer Stenergard (M), who shared their views.
160705 ”Halftime for the gambling inquiry – what is the key to a successful deregulation?” (Swedish)
On July 5, BOS organized a seminar during the political week in Almedalen where the government’s gambling investigator, Håkan Hallstedt, presented a status report on the inquiry’s work so far. Hållstedt gave some infomration about the content of the forthcoming report and discussed the crucial issues that remain to be resolved. Also participating in the seminar were Ebba Ljungerud from Unibet and Morten Rønde from the Danish Online Gambling Association (DOGA) who shared Britain’s and Denmark’s experiences of having successfully reregulated their gambling markets.
160602 “European gambling markets in transition – What lessons should Sweden draw from the experiences of others?” (English)
On June 2, BOS hosted a lunch seminar with the purpose of broadening the perspective and examine other countries’ national debates on gambling regulations and trends in the game reregulation processes that many European countries now find themselves in.
Maarten Haijer, Secretary General of the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA), and Jan Tjernell, General Counsel for Mr Green, discussed what lessons can be learned from these processes and what we can take with us into the Swedish reregulation. Whether other countries have solved some of the crucial issues for the Swedish gambling market a good way and if there are any measures other countries have taken that Sweden should avoid?
160412 “Exclusion on an inclusive gambling market – How can unlicensed operators be kept out?” (Swedish)
With an increasing number of European countries gradually opening up the national gambling markets to competition, growing tendency to enclose these markets by other means bas become noticable, e.g. by blocking the websites of gambling operators that do not have a license or by requiring banks and payment intermediaries to report transactions to and from these companies. Also in the Swedish debate, the issue of how operators without a license in a reregulated gambling market can be excluded has been prominent during the spring.
On April 12, BOS organized a lunch seminar where Rickard Nordin (C), Member of Parliament, Anders Johansson, CEO of Kombispel, and Malin Rydberg Sparf, Communications Director for Betsson AB, discussed how a future license system can be designed to keep unlicensed operators out, what sanctioning possibilities are available and whether such are desirable.
160226 ”Sacrifice everything for high channeling?” (Swedish)
In the public debate on the future of Swedish gambling market, high channeling is often highlighted as a critical indicator of a long-term sustainable gambling regulation. High channeling means that customers seek out gambling company within the license system. Conversely, low channeling means that customers have flocked to operators outside the regulated market.
On 26 February, BOS organized a lunch seminar where Peter Johnsson (S), member of the Parliamentary Committee on Culture, Kim Grahn, Chairman of the National Association for Gambling Addiction and Joakim Rönngren, Communications Director for the Swedish Gambling Authority, discussed why high channeling is so important, what factors affect channeling, how a future gambling regulation should be designed to provide the highest possible channeling and whether there are other values that are more important than high channeling?
151218 “What significance does the gambling industry have for the Swedish private sector?” (Swedish)
Sweden is considered a pioneer within the IT-sector and Stockholm is often ranked as one of the world’s leading IT-cities. Creative, technology and knowledge-intensive companies with high export content is growing steadily. Many of these companies operate in the online gambling industry, which to a large degree was started by Swedish interests and for a long time been run by Swedish entrepreneurs.
On 18 December, BOS organized a lunch seminar where Olof Lavesson (M), Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Culture, Per Eriksson, CEO of NetEnt and Maria Rankka, CEO of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, discussed how the Swedish gambling companies today contribute to Swedish growth and what their future prospects are. How can their prominent position be defended and strengthened further? What makes consequences do the successes of the companies like NetEnt have for Stockholm, Sweden and Swedish private sector?
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