The Spelinspektionen, the Swedish Gambling Authority, has released a consultation response regarding the extension to the credit ban in the Gambling Act.

This will restrict the ability for people to take out loans to maintain gambling behaviour, or from using credit to place bets.

To act on this, the Spelinspektionen is investigating whether the use of credit cards on gambling sites should be banned.

Camilla Rosenberg, Spelinspektionen Director General, said: “As can be seen from the report, the Gambling Authority has a legal position stated that licensees may not in any way contribute or encourage players to take out loans to sustain their gambling, because it contravenes the duty of care in Chapter 14 Section 1 of the Gambling Act (2018:1138).

“According to the authority's view, it is therefore already prohibited for licence holders to promote opportunities for anyone else to offer or provide credit for stakes in games.

“However, the Swedish Gaming Authority agrees with the investigation's view that the legal situation should be clarified and the prohibition should appear directly from the legal text.”

At the time of writing, the Spelinspektionen has come ‘to the conclusion that no such ban shall be introduced at the present time’, but has stated that it will continue to investigate how successful the ban has been in the UK and Norway.

Out of the 50 operators that were asked by the Authority, 60% said that they currently offer credit cards as one of the payment methods on their platforms.

The Authority is certain of one thing though, which is the introduction of a debt and credit register (Skri Register).