Sweden: limit bets to top football tiers, other sports may follow

Sweden’s gambling regulator wants to restrict its already restrictive rules to prohibit bets on lower-tier football leagues in order to limit match-fixing.

On Friday, Sweden’s Spelinspektionen regulatory body unveiled an update to anti-match-fixing plans issued in January that, among other things, would prohibit Swedish-licensed online betting operators from offering proposition wagers in which individual players could manipulate the outcome, such as penalty kicks, the issuing of yellow cards, etc.

The updated proposal would restrict all football wagers to the country’s top four levels, a step seemingly inspired by widespread media reports this month that players from Swedish amateur football squads had received threats from bettors who had nothing else on which to wager due to the COVID-19 suspensions of most major leagues.

The new restriction would also apply to lower-tier matches in other countries, while betting on friendly or training matches would similarly be off-limits, regardless of what tier those teams occupied.