Huh? What happened to all our beloved Swedish players? Sadly, Fantasino has had to withdraw from the Swedish market for a while (just for a while!).
But why? Starting January 1st, 2019, only online casinos with a Swedish Gambling Authority-issued license are allowed to give service to players located in Sweden.
What happens was that for decades, Sweden has had a gambling monopoly going on, which initially forced Swedes to choose among one of the state-owned landbased casinos only for gaming options.
Until, online casinos rocked the market. And so, it became lots harder to keep Swedish gaming practices under control, and Swedish punters were able to freely play under EU regional gambling legislation.
Hence, Swedish government made the decision to open and regulate all gambling activity within its territory. This new legislation is aiming at increasing player safety + boost government revenue by:
Requiring all gambling operators to acquire a license issued by the Swedish Gaming Authority to operate
Having gambling operators pay an 18% tax (don’t panic — players’ winnings will remain non-taxable!)
Increase customer protection by enabling stricter local pause and self-exclusion tools
As Sweden begins transitioning to a fully licensed and regulated market, trebol folks over at Fantasino are already working hard to acquire a shiny new Swedish license to bring back the action to Sweden.
AND, as we are all about change and surprise, we will be coming back with nice upgrades for the local market. See you around in a few months!
Cheers,
The Fantasino Team