Part 3: The position of the monopolies
Part 3: The position of the
monopolies
The current position
of Svenska Spel
and ATG within the
Swedish market
remains controversial
and both will be
fighting to retain this
post-regulation
A
report in mid-June from the
finance ministry entitled
‘Central market issues in
the reorganisation of the gaming
market’ made it clear that the issue
of the future of Svenska Spel and
its horseracing counterpart ATG is
far from settled. Worryingly for the
betting operators, the government
indicated that the continuing debate
should include a discussion around
additional sports betting levies.
The report stated that Svenska
Spel’s adaptation to the new
regulated market – and how
that affected the economics of
ports and horseracing — was
“important for the implementation
of the reform”. In light of this,
the government has set out the
terms for a further report that
will investigate how a “standalone
financing model for horse and
sport competitions, such as a
market fee” might be designed and
implemented. The final report will
completed no later than the end of
October 2020.
Step back in time
Hoffstedt from BOS says the move
– and particularly its timing — was
a backward step. “To even consider
introducing a le vy on sports and
horse race betting is taking a step
back in time, instead of embracing
the licensing system,” he says. “In
a functioning licensing market,
commercial deals will be struck
between the gambling operators
and sports, such as sponsor deals,
streaming rights and data access.
Having government-imposed levies
remind us more of the monopoly
model we are about to abandon.”
It is the wording within the
section entitled ‘Investigat(ing)
a model for financing the sports
movement’ from the finance
ministry report that is perhaps
the most controversial within the
relatively short report. It pointed
out that in its original inception,
the sports betting monopoly
established in 1934 was formed
with the express intention of
directly paying the profits to sport.
More recently, the model
changed to one where Svenska
Spel directs profits back to sport
via the sponsorship route. In the
words of the report, “in connection
with the reorganisation of the
gaming market… the government
stated that compensation should
be paid to sport when sports
events are used as bets.
“The reorganisation of the
gaming market changes the
prerequisites for Svenska Spel to
Sweden: The transition to regulation in one of Europe’s most advanced digital markets
17