Sweden’s state-run gambling operator Svenska Spel has dodged an anti-competitive bullet fired by its privately-held online gambling competitors.

Last Friday (13), the Konkurrensverket (Swedish Competition Authority) dismissed a complaint filed against Svenska Spel by Branschföreningen för onlinespel (BOS), the trade group representing Sweden’s independent online gambling licensees. BOS accused Svenska Spel of abusing its monopoly in Sweden’s lottery market to unfairly raise its profile with Sweden’s online gamblers.

Before Sweden launched its regulated online market in January 2019, it forced Svenska Spel to split into three separate units: one that retained the lottery monopoly, one that involved purely land-based operations (Casino Cosmopol & Vegas), while the other included online casino and sports betting (Sport & Casino AB).

The BOS complaint noted that Svenska Spel’s lottery website and mobile app contained references to the Sport & Casino product, including “continuous information” on the need to hold two separate online accounts to access both Svenska Spel product lines, “even to customers who only play lottery games.”