Swedish regulator Spelinspektionen is opening a consultation on operators’ duty of care requirements, after finding many operators’ current plans lacking in June.
The regulator said it was working on creating a clearer duty of care plan, but wanted to hear from the industry first.
“Spelinspektionen is working on a plan regarding duty of care and now, within the framework of this work, wants to take into account the wishes and thoughts of members of the industry,” the regulator said.
However, the regulator added that, regardless of the results of the consultation, it would not be possible for a new duty of care framework to detail specific measures that guarantee an operator is living up to requirements.
Rather, measures would likely depend on individual players and have some degree of interpretation to them.
“However, we would like to point out that it is not possible to give a specific answer as to which measures mean that the duty of care can be considered fulfilled, but it is in the nature of the duty that the measures taken must be adapted based on the individual.”
The consultation follows a June survey of all 67 licensed operators’ duty of care plans conducted in June, in which Spelinspektionen found that a large number of pans it examined were lacking in some way.
It noted that ten plans failed to mention which indicators they used when monitoring players’ gambling, while the same number also also lacked a clear system for following up with players who show signs of excessive gambling.
Other issues it found included inadequate explanations of when to apply restrictions on potential problem gamblers – with some operators only applying restrictions at their players’ request. Just under half of operators did not have a plan to contact players who had previously self-excluded to make sure they were gambling sustainably, the regulator’s research revealed.
Spelinspektionen said all of these areas where it found some operators lacking were part of its view of “what an action plan should at least contain”.
Therefore, the regulator may intend to make the requirements a license condition if it receives positive feedback.
The consultation closes on 5 November and responses may be sent to the Spelinspektionen via email.
