Patrik Hofbauer, the president and CEO of state-owned sports betting operator Svenska Spel, has issued his support to Swedish government proposals that further clamps on selected sports betting markets as suggested by the Swedish Government.
The proposals were discussed on Monday (October 14) during a meeting between Swedish Social Security Minister Ardalan Shekarabi and representatives from both the Swedish Football Association and Swedish Ice Hockey Association.
The Swedish regulator Spelinspektionen has since called for a ban on bets that can be influenced by individual players, including yellow cards, corners and dismissals.
“Svenska Spel welcomes the minister’s message. It is common sense not to offer this kind of market. This type of event is very easy to manipulate, because they do not depend on the entire team effort, but can be controlled by a single player’,” said Patrik Hofbauer.
Svenska Spel CEO also pointed out that Svenska Spel’s Sport & Casino igaming subsidiary in July stopped offering odds on the Swedish Division 2 Södra Svealand football league amid concerns over suspicious betting activity on the competition.
“As a fresh example of this, we have the all-Swedish match between Kalmar and Elfsborg earlier this year, where a player is suspected of having drawn on a yellow card while his relatives bet that this would happen” added Hofbauer.
“If you want the Swedish gaming market to be healthy and secure, then you welcome this message.”
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