The licence requirements that Spelinspektionen applies to online operators rank among the most prescriptive in Europe, and they have tightened again since 2024. Sweden pairs a five-year commercial licence with a state-run self-exclusion register, a statutory limit on bonuses, mandatory deposit limits and, since April 2026, a full ban on gambling financed by credit. Compliance here is a question of system design more than policy drafting.
What Spelinspektionen Requires Before Granting a Licence
Sweden ended its monopoly on 1 January 2019, when the Gambling Act (spellagen 2018:1138) came into force. Spelinspektionen, the Swedish Gambling Authority, grants every licence under that Act and supervises licence holders, including their anti-money laundering work. A licence runs for a maximum of five years and covers one activity, so an operator that offers online casino games and sports betting holds two of them.
An application for a Swedish gambling licence goes in with supporting documents in Swedish. The applicant must be established in the EEA, and a licence holder with no residence or establishment inside the EEA appoints a physical representative resident in Sweden under Chapter 4, Section 4. Owners, board members and senior staff face suitability and criminal record checks. An accredited testing body certifies the gaming system against SIFS 2022:3, and Spelinspektionen keeps access to that system for supervision. Since 1 July 2023 anyone who produces, supplies, installs or alters gambling software for a Swedish licence holder needs a separate software permit, and licence holders may source games only from permit holders. Those are the checkpoints an auditor works through when testing the licensing and legal status requirements, because a certification review turns on whether a licence is in force and correctly scoped, not on whether a logo sits in the footer.
Gambling tax stands at 22% of gross gaming revenue for licence holders, raised from 18% on 1 July 2024. Land-based casino licences no longer exist. The Riksdag legislated the end of casino gaming from 1 January 2026, and Svenska Spel closed the last Casino Cosmopol venue in Stockholm in April 2025, ahead of the statutory date.
| Licence or permit | Scope | Application fee |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial online gambling, Chapter 7 | Online casino, online bingo, computer-simulated gaming machines | SEK 230,000 |
| Betting, Chapter 8 | Sports and event betting, online or land-based | SEK 230,000 |
| Both applied for at the same time | Chapters 7 and 8 in one application | SEK 230,000 in total |
| Gambling software permit | Producing, supplying, installing or altering gambling software | SEK 120,000 |
| Gambling agent registration | Each registered agent | SEK 1,500 |
Source: Spelinspektionen fee schedule under the Gambling Ordinance (2018:1475).
Spelpaus Blocks Registration, Login and Direct Marketing
Spelinspektionen operates the national self-exclusion register, Spelpaus.se, and a player who registers there is excluded from all licensed gambling that requires player registration rather than from a single brand. Some products sit outside the registration duty under LIFS 2018:3, among them offline scratchcards, bingo under Chapter 6, local pool betting on horses, land-based casino games and gambling on ships in international traffic. A licence holder under Chapters 6, 7 or 8 also runs its own exclusion facility alongside the link to Spelpaus.se, so operator-level and national exclusion sit side by side.
The register is queried, not synchronised. SIFS 2026:3, decided on 23 April 2026 and in force from 1 August 2026, is the first regulation to prescribe how those queries run. A licence holder must use the connection credentials assigned to it, an Actor ID and an API key, even where a platform supplier or another third party performs the check on its behalf. Marketing checks go through the marketing API, while registration and login checks go through the player account API. A check counts as completed once it has shown whether the person is excluded. National self-exclusion registers differ sharply in what they actually block, and Sweden sits at the strict end because the check bites at every login rather than only at sign-up.
| Trigger | Legal basis | What the check prevents |
|---|---|---|
| Direct marketing | Chapter 15, Section 2, first paragraph, Gambling Act | Sending targeted promotion to an excluded person |
| Player registration | Chapter 11, Section 9, first paragraph, Gambling Ordinance | Opening an account for an excluded person |
| Player login | Chapter 11, Section 9, second paragraph, Gambling Ordinance | Letting an excluded person into the gaming system |
The One-Bonus Rule Under Chapter 14 of the Gambling Act
The bonus rule that applies to online casino operators in Sweden sits in Chapter 14, Section 9: a licence holder may not offer or provide a bonus after the first occasion on which the player takes part in gambling with that licence holder. Chapter 2, Section 3 defines a bonus as a discount or a comparable financial incentive linked directly to the gambling, which is broad enough to catch free spins, deposit matches and most cashback constructions. Licence holders that supply only Chapter 6 public-benefit gambling were carved out by Act 2022:1674. For a commercial operator the practical result is one bonus event per player per licence, with no reload offers, no loyalty credit and no tournament prize pool dressed up as promotional value.
Two figures still circulate that bind nobody. A SEK 100 cap on bonuses and a SEK 5,000 weekly deposit cap for online casino were pandemic measures, in force from July 2020 until 14 November 2021. The government proposed reinstating them from 7 February 2022 with a lower SEK 4,000 deposit cap, then dropped the plan, and neither has returned. Vendor summaries and affiliate pages still repeat both years later, which matters when a compliance team drafts against advertising and marketing standards, because copy built on a lapsed rule usually misstates the live one as well.
Marketing itself falls under Chapter 15, Section 1, which requires särskild måttfullhet, special moderation, in gambling marketing aimed at consumers. Spelinspektionen and the Swedish Consumer Agency have both read that standard narrowly, and it applies to affiliate creative that an operator commissions or benefits from.
Mandatory Limits and the Duty of Care Swedish Courts Have Been Testing
The duty of care that gambling operators in Sweden owe their customers sits in Chapter 14, Section 1, and Spelinspektionen treats it as the lens for almost every other consumer protection obligation. The provision is short, general and, as the recent judgments show, contested.
The quantitative side leaves less room. Under Chapter 14, Section 7 a player sets an upper deposit limit before playing online, stated per day, week and month. A reduction takes effect immediately. An increase takes effect at the earliest after 72 hours under Chapter 11, Section 3 of the Gambling Ordinance, and Spelinspektionen has published a legal position adding that the higher limit cannot start before the running week or month has expired. Chapter 11, Section 5 obliges the operator to contact any player who sets a monthly deposit limit above SEK 10,000 or who asks to raise an existing limit, and that contact counts as duty-of-care work rather than customer service. Players also set time limits for online play.
Where the courts have landed so far:
- Videoslots received a warning and a sanction fee of SEK 12 million in April 2025 for failing to counteract excessive gambling. The Administrative Court agreed the breach was clear and rejected the appeal.
- LeoVegas had its penalty annulled, with the court finding no clear and distinct breach of the duty of care.
- Svenska Spel Sport and Casino received a warning and SEK 100 million in March 2024 over ten high-loss customers. The Administrative Court in Linköping annulled the decision in June 2025, holding that the duty was not defined precisely enough to sanction, and Spelinspektionen appealed to the Court of Appeal.
- Anti-money laundering cases ran in parallel through 2025: Spooniker SEK 10 million, TSG Interactive SEK 7 million, Betsson Nordic SEK 6.5 million, Snabbare SEK 5.5 million.
Operators that document intervention thresholds and record what they did about markers of harm fare better in these files than operators that sent warnings and informational messages, which is precisely what the regulator criticised in the Svenska Spel case.
Sweden’s Credit Ban Has Applied to Every Licence Holder Since April 2026
The ban on gambling financed by credit in Sweden took effect on 1 April 2026 under Prop. 2025/26:11, which the government adopted on 30 September 2025. Until then the Gambling Act stopped a licence holder or its agent from extending credit itself and left third-party credit untouched. Credit cards, overdrafts, personal loans and buy-now-pay-later products filled that gap.
The rule now covers all licensed gambling, online and land-based, and reaches licence holders and gambling agents alike, including arrangements that facilitate credit from a third party. Operators take appropriate and proportionate measures to prevent credit-funded play: blocking credit card ranges at the payment layer, refusing transactions where the operator knows or has reason to suspect the money is borrowed, and reviewing wallet and open banking flows that hide the funding source. The obligation is risk-based for a practical reason. Once borrowed money reaches a current account, no payment message tells the operator where it came from. Sweden is the first EU member state to apply a blanket ban of this kind. An operator mapping its responsible gambling tool mandates across markets should treat payment-source controls as a separate control family from limits and self-exclusion, because the evidence an auditor asks for is different.
Channelisation and the Participation Criterion Planned for 2027
Spelinspektionen tracks the channelisation rate for Swedish gambling, meaning the share that stays with licensed operators, and the trend is a slow slide. The regulator estimated 84% for 2025 against a government target of 90%. Counted by players rather than by money, 94% used licensed operators in 2025. Almost the whole gap sits in online casino, estimated between 72% and 82%, while sports betting runs between 92% and 96%.
| Year | Estimated channelisation |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 86% |
| 2024 | 85% |
| 2025 | 84% |
The regulator’s survey found that the most common reason players give for using unlicensed sites is a current or previous Spelpaus exclusion, which points at a structural problem: the strongest player protection tool in the market is also the strongest push towards operators outside it. By April 2026 Spelinspektionen had identified more than 2,100 websites offering gambling to Swedish consumers without a licence.
The legislative answer is a change of scope. A Ministry of Finance memorandum published in September 2025 proposes replacing the direction criterion, under which the Act applies only to operators that direct their activity at Sweden, with a participation criterion under which the Act applies wherever a person in Sweden can take part. An operator without a Swedish licence would have to geo-block the country and avoid conduct that undercuts the block, such as marketing aimed at Swedish consumers. The memorandum also extends the ban on promoting illegal gambling to payment intermediaries and adds a presumption that a payment from a person resident in Sweden relates to gambling from Sweden. Entry into force is proposed for 1 January 2027, and the Riksdag has not voted on it. Operators comparing licensing jurisdictions should note the direction of travel: Sweden would move from a targeting test to an accessibility test, and several EU regulators are looking at the same shift.
Where GICNT-LS and GICNT-PP Go Beyond the Swedish Baseline
Sweden clears most of what GICNT-LS asks of a licensing jurisdiction, so verification here is a question of scope rather than legitimacy. GICNT-PP is where the gap opens, because the case law leaves the duty of care underspecified and an audit needs evidence rather than intent.
What certification adds on top of the licence requirements Spelinspektionen already enforces:
- GICNT-LS: annual review of licence validity against the public register, confirmation that each product line sits under the correct chapter of the Act, and confirmation that every game supplier holds a software permit.
- GICNT-PP: a bi-annual audit that tests documented intervention thresholds, the escalation path from flag to action, and the record kept of each player interaction. Swedish law requires the outcome. GICNT-PP requires the file.
- Payment-source controls: evidence that credit screening runs at the deposit step and is reviewed after launch, not a policy statement that credit is prohibited.
- Self-exclusion integration: proof that checks fire at all three statutory points and that the operator uses its own credentials, which SIFS 2026:3 makes auditable from August 2026.
Certification does not replace a Swedish licence and carries no view from Spelinspektionen. It records that an operator meets a standard set independently of Spelinspektionen, on a cycle Spelinspektionen does not run, and the player protection requirements it tests against are written to sit above national minimums rather than restate them.
Common Questions on Spelinspektionen Licensing and Spelpaus Compliance
Does one Swedish licence cover both online casino and betting?
No. Commercial online gambling under Chapter 7 and betting under Chapter 8 are separate licences. An operator that applies for both at the same time pays a single application fee of SEK 230,000, but it holds two licences and is supervised against both. Each runs for a maximum of five years and is renewed separately.
Is the SEK 100 bonus cap still in force in Sweden?
No. That cap, together with the SEK 5,000 weekly deposit cap for online casino, was a temporary pandemic measure that lapsed on 14 November 2021. What remains permanent is Chapter 14, Section 9, which allows a bonus only at the player’s first occasion of gambling with that licence holder.
How often must an operator query Spelpaus.se?
At three points: before sending direct marketing, before registering a player and before allowing a login. Under SIFS 2026:3, in force from 1 August 2026, every query uses the licence holder’s own Actor ID and API key, even where a third-party platform makes the call, and the correct API must match the purpose of the check.
Do operators established outside the EEA need a presence in Sweden?
They need a physical representative resident in Sweden under Chapter 4, Section 4 of the Gambling Act, meeting the same suitability requirements as the licence holder. A company established inside the EEA does not need a Swedish office, but Spelinspektionen must retain access to the gaming system for supervision.
What would the participation criterion change for unlicensed operators?
At present the Gambling Act reaches operators that direct their activity at Sweden, a test sites avoid by dropping Swedish language, currency and local marketing. Under the proposed criterion, accessibility from Sweden would trigger the Act on its own, so an operator without a Swedish licence would have to geo-block the country. Entry into force is proposed for 1 January 2027 and the proposal is still in the legislative process.