Sweden considers cleaning up sports broadcasts with gambling ad ban

Sweden is a country that’s currently grappling with a whole host of issues related to the basic regulation of online gambling in its various forms. For years, the country resisted opening its gaming markets to outsiders and, now that it has, Swedish lawmakers are trying to figure out the best way to regulate their newest online sportsbooks and casinos, while protecting the Swedish people.
This new dynamic has Swedish regulatory bodies doing everything from warning operators to make certain they’ve posted self-exclusion information on their websites, all the way to a very recent effort to ban gambling ads from live sports broadcasts. Rumblings of the potential new policy change came on Friday when Minister of Civil Affairs Ardalan Shekarabi told Swedish language news site Aftonbladet that Swedes are growing increasingly weary of the onslaught of gambling ads during their favorite live sports events.
This new wave of gambling advertisements are ever-present on Swedish media. A recent report found that online gambling operator Kindred Group was the second largest consumer of advertising time in the country for 2018.
While operators are spending plenty to acquire new Swedish customers, Swedes themselves are growing increasingly tired of the onslaught. If any of this sounds familiar, it’s because that’s exactly what happened in Australia before their government put tight restrictions on sports betting ads during live sports broadcasts.
While Shekarabi would not commit to any specific actions regarding a potential ban, he also said that he wouldn’t exclude the possibility either. In short, Swedish-facing operators can expect a whole lot of scrutiny of their marketing and advertising habits in the months and years to come.