It is completely legal to gamble at online casinos licensed by the Swedish Gaming Authority, the age requirement is 18+. Also, it is legal to gamble at 4 of the country’s land casinos, as long as you meet the age requirement of 20+.
Sweden is one of the most progressive countries in the world, but their regulations in terms of gambling have had many flaws over the years, which changed for the better only recently, in 2019.
Land casinos have been legal in the country since 1999, and to this date, there are a handful of land casinos operating on Sweden soil. Online gambling has been legal in the country since 2002, which is quite a rarity these days.
Online casino license in Sweden
Only two companies had the license to offer online gambling services to players, which formed sort of a monopoly. This was against the spirit of EU laws, and in 2019, a new bill was introduced that liberalized the market. Up until 2019, Swedish players would gamble at off-country-based European online casinos licensed by the Malta Gaming Authority, Cyprus, UK Gambling Commission, and the likes.
As of 2019, operators who seek to offer their service to Swedish citizens must acquire a license from the newly-found Swedish Gaming Authority (SGA). As this new bill passed, it became strictly illegal to gamble at online casinos not licensed by the SGA, regardless of the country they are based in.
The good news is that, unlike many countries’ proprietary licensing bodies, the SGA license is easier to acquire. What’s more, considering Swedes love online gambling, many of the top European online casinos have quickly acquired a Swedish Gaming Authority license.
Bottom line, before playing at an online casino, make sure it is licensed by the Swedish Gaming Authority. You can easily check this at the bottom of each casino’s website, where they list all their licenses. Online casinos offering their services to Swedish residents must pay an 18% tax on all profits derived from Swedish players.
Safe gambling in Sweden
The new online gambling bill is much more than an attempt to rake in online gambling profits by way of tax. The government wants to make sure that players can gamble at safe, secure websites with strict regulations going towards that. As such, gambling operators that seek to acquire a Swedish gambling license must adhere to the following rules:
- Clearly state the terms and conditions of each bonus offer
- Only one welcome bonus is allowed to be offered to customers
- Reoccurring promotions are not allowed, which leads to players who love bonuses constantly seeking out new online casinos
- Swedish players must have the ability to set deposit limits
- Swedish players must be able to close their accounts at will
The introduction of the Swedish Gaming Authority also induced a form of “master-reset” at all online casinos, as long as Swedes are concerned, resetting all bonus offers and treating all Swedes as new players, regardless if they had a prior account at the casino.
This means that if you’ve claimed a bonus at Rizk Casino, for instance, while it was still licensed by the MGA and UKGC, you can now claim the same bonus again following the casino’s acquisition of a Swedish Gaming Authority license.
In terms of land casinos, there are only 4 of them on Swedish soil, and they all share the same name – Casino Cosmopol. They can be found in the cities of Malmo, Gothenburg, Sundsvall, and Stockholm, and the minimum entry age is 20 years. At these casinos, you can find hundreds of slot machines and dozens of tables of games of skill, such as Blackjack and Poker.
The Casino Cosmopol in Gothenburg is the largest by far, boasting 343 slot machines and 41 table games.