Swedish Gambling Act Changed to Combat Match-Fixing and Fraud
The Swedish parliament, Riksdag, has approved major changes to the 2018 Gambling Act that will give licence holders the right to process personal data in relation to legal offences. The changes will come into force 1 February 2025 and aim to combat match-fixing, fraud and other criminal activities in the gambling industry.
Focus on Illegal Activities
The changes will allow operators to process personal data only in specific situations, such as when cheating or fraud is detected. This includes monitoring suspicious betting patterns, preventing match-fixing and regulatory compliance.
The changes will help Swedish authorities to combat sports corruption and betting integrity. By allowing operators to flag unusual account behaviour the government will create a more robust system to detect and mitigate criminal activities.
Multi-Layered Regulation
Earlier this year the Conservative Coalition government launched a multi-authority data-sharing platform as part of the fight against match-fixing and sports corruption. The changes now provides a legal framework to support this by allowing licence holders to process data while being GDPR compliant.
According to the new law data processing must be in accordance with Article 6 of GDPR and be limited to fraud detection or compliance. The government said these changes are in line with the law and provides both legitimate interest and legal basis for operators to process data.
Unanimous Approval
The Culture Committee approved the changes without objections during the consultation. The Legislative Council also reviewed the proposal without comments, which means broad support for the changes.
The changes will come into force 1 February 2025. Sweden wants to raise the bar for regulation in the gambling industry. These developments reflect the country’s commitment to creating a secure and transparent gambling environment while addressing the evolving challenges posed by criminal activities.
