Government considers ‘extreme measures’ as activity rises amid COVID-19 restrictions but closures would drive more players to unlicensed sites instead of protecting them

9th April, 2020 ­­– The Swedish government’s threat to temporarily shut down licensed online casinos would have a disastrous effect on the industry and drive thousands more players to the black market, BonusFinder.com has warned.

The minister in charge of gambling policy, Ardalan Shekarabi, this week warned that “extraordinary measures” would be implemented if operators do not take action to slow the increase in igaming activity seen in the last two weeks, as people are told to stay at home because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

According to new data from Sweden’s gambling regulator, Spelinspektionen, there has been a 33% increase in registrations and logins to play online casino games with 17 of the 60 licensed operators in the country in the last 14 days.