Sweden has issued its first batch of new online gambling licenses, and their recipients include some obvious selections and some notable omissions.

On Friday, the Lotteriinspektionen regulatory body – which will rebrand as Spelinspektionen in the new year – announced the first 16 recipients of new Swedish online gambling licenses, which will formally become active on January 1, 2019. (View the full list here.)

Lotteriinspektionen director-general Camilla Rosenberg celebrated Friday’s news as “a historic day for the game,” while praising her staff for laboring “under severe pressure” to process the 95 gambling license applications – 70 of which are for online operations – it has received since the application window opened on August 1.

The new licensees include the state-run former gambling monopolies Svenska Spel and AB Trav & Galopp (ATG), both of which have been furiously inking supplier deals so they can finally offer the online casino products they were denied under Sweden’s previous regulatory regime.