Sweden’s state-run (for the moment) gambling monopoly Svenska Spel is looking for a new leader after its longtime CEO announced his resignation.

On Friday, Svenska Spel chairman Erik Strand announced that CEO Lennart Käll had informed the company that he plans to step down from his chief executive role by the end of this summer. Strand said the hunt for Käll’s successor is already underway and a candidate would be identified by the spring.

Käll assumed the CEO’s role in 2011, and said Friday that he was proud of what he and his team had managed to accomplish over the past seven years. Käll said the company was “well prepared and look[ing] forward to competing on equal terms” with the internationally licensed online gambling operators who serve (and dominate) the Swedish market.

Sweden is in the home stretch of revamping its gambling market, which will finally allow international sites to apply for local licenses starting sometime this summer, with the official relaunch of the new liberalized market scheduled for January 1, 2019.