Swedish Spelpaus self-exclusion scheme surpasses 80,000 sign-ups

Sweden’s national gambling regulator, Spelinspektionen, has revealed that the Spelpaus self exclusion system has surpassed 80,000 registrations.

The scheme, which went live on the opening of the Swedish market on January 1 September 2019, allows individuals to exclude themselves from any licensed game that requires registration under the country’s Gaming Act. 

Those activities that fall under this banner include licensed casino gaming, both land-based and online; computer-simulated slot gaming; online bingo and lotteries; betting; and VLTs.

Earlier this year, Spelpaus, praised as “an important part of the Gambling Authority’s work with gambling responsibility,” was redesigned with new functionalities and clearer guidance on self-exclusion.

Following a 2021 market revision, the Spelinspektionen announced that Spelpaus required an upgrade to ensure that “customer self-exclusion was more seamless for players and to better inform relevant health authorities with more data on consumer engagements across gambling verticals.”

During April, the regulator began a ‘pilot phase’ of the upgraded Spelpaus 2.0 that allowed licensed operators to trial customer referrals and self-exclusions.

The upgrade allowed for immediate self-exclusion, with customers simply choosing their shutdown period and ID verification of bank-ID. Further new functionalities allowed players to instantly request to prolong their self-exclusion periods.