Sweden's gambling authority, Spelinspektionen, has continued its enforcement campaign against the black market, issuing direct prohibition orders against two
Sweden’s gambling authority, Spelinspektionen, has continued its enforcement campaign against the black market, issuing direct prohibition orders against two unlicensed online casino operators, Altacore NV and Wino.casino.
The regulator stated that its investigations found clear evidence that both companies were actively targeting Swedish consumers without holding the required licence, in direct breach of the Swedish Gambling Act. The bans are the latest in a long series of enforcement actions as the authority continues its difficult battle against a persistent and adaptive black market.
The investigation into the Curacao-licensed Altacore NV revealed a particularly sophisticated approach to circumventing enforcement. The regulator found that the company’s casino brands were being promoted to Swedes via affiliates and Twitch streamers. After initial warnings led to the geoblocking of its primary websites, Spelinspektionen discovered that the operator had simply redirected traffic to new “ skin” sites, which continued to market to Swedish players.
The case against Wino.casino was more straightforward, with the website defaulting to the Swedish language, displaying the Swedish flag, and being promoted via targeted SMS campaigns. The operator provided no information on its ownership or licensing.
These enforcement actions are taking place against the backdrop of a much larger, systemic problem for the Swedish regulated market: a stubbornly low channelisation rate for online casino. According to the regulator’s own latest market report, the percentage of consumer spending with licensed online casino operators has hovered between 75% and 80% for a sixth consecutive year.
This is a significant failure, as it falls far short of the 90% channelisation target that was a core goal of the country’s re-regulation of the market in 2019. It means that nearly a quarter of the online casino market remains with unprotected, untaxed, illegal operators.
Licensed operators and the industry trade body, BOS, have long argued that the root cause of the problem is the regulatory framework itself. They contend that strict restrictions on bonuses and gameplay interventions in the legal market make it uncompetitive compared to the offerings on black market sites.
BOS has repeatedly demanded a broader parliamentary inquiry into the causes of this “leakage” to the unlicensed market, arguing that the regulator’s current site-by-site blocking approach is an insufficient solution. While Spelinspektionen is actively policing the borders of the regulated market, a growing chorus of industry voices insists that the fence itself is broken and requires fundamental legislative reform.
