Sweden’s Gambling Monopoly Criticised by Local Firms

Owners of non-profit lottery company A-lotterierna, Sweden's Social Democrat party, are attacking the country's gambling monopolies, such as Svenska Spel, for pushing out of the lucrative online gambling market the non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Håkan Bystedt, the company chief, while talking to Sweden's Sveriges Radio, argued that the government needed to provide equal access to NGO gambling operators to run Internet gambling operations.

Currently accounting for just 10 percent of market, The NGOs' slice of the Swedish gambling market is diminishing, and Bystedt pins some of the blame on Sweden's largest gaming company, the state-owned Svenska Spel, but also argues that the government is not acting quickly enough to resolve the discrepancies between commercial and non-commercial gambling companies.

Bystedt told Sveriges Radio: 'Nothing ever became of the promises made at the beginning of the 2000s to improve the situation for non-governmental organizations.'

Revenue of around 110 million kronor (approximately £7,995,420) for its owners, the Social Democratic Party is what A-lotterierna generates annually.