Sweden hopes to have its new liberalized gambling regime in place by 2019, which will finally allow international online operators the chance to legally participate in the market.

On Thursday, the Swedish government confirmed it had sent a copy of its draft gambling legislation (viewable here, in Swedish) to the European Commission for vetting. The formal standstill period will end on March 20, 2018 and the government plans to begin accepting applications for new gambling licenses by July with the new market launch date set for January 1, 2019.

Minister for Public Administration Ardalan Shekarabi said the goal of the legislation was to “regain control of the Swedish gambling market.” Recent figures from the Lotteriinspektionen gaming regulatory body show internationally licensed online operators control one-quarter of Sweden’s overall gambling market.

The new legislation reserves state control over land-based casinos, major lotteries and gaming machines outside casinos, but online sports betting, casino, bingo and other digital products such as virtual sports will be open to all qualified applicants.