Confirmation that gambling giants including bet365, The Stars Group, Flutter Entertainment and GVC Holdings had fallen foul of Spelinspektionen provided a fitting finale to six months littered with warnings, and subsequent fines, issued by the Swedish regulator.
It was revealed on 1 July that eight operators had broken rules against offering betting markets on events where the majority of the players were under the age of 18.
Hillside ENC, the holder of the Swedish license for bet365, and TSG Interactive, which operates pokerstars.se, pokerstarscasino.se, fulltilt.se and betstars.se, were handed the highest penalties for those in breach through matching fines of SEK10m.
Unfortunately, this was not an isolated instance of controversy for a market - opened to considerable fanfare in January 2019 - that seems to have made a rod for its own back by putting in place an unclear set of regulations, particularly around marketing and compliance.
These regulations, first brought to the market's attention in April 2018, stood out immediately for both the new Spelhaus self-exclusion register - something that has seen a high pick up from players amidst a less than perfect implementation by the operators - and the overarching requirement to be 'moderate' on the advertising side.
Even before official re-regulation of the market on 1 January, interpretation of 'moderate' advertising was tested in the courts. Ninja Casino, which ultimately saw its license revoked for a separate set of incidents around player protection, was sued in December 2018 for citing phrases such as 'Profit off the bank in five minutes' and 'BET NOW'.
Issues surrounding this lack of clarity were predicted by Ismail Vali, Senior Consultant for iGamingLeaders.com, who spoke to SBC News in November of last year.
He said: 'Moderate advertising is no clear or standard rule, and will likely result in internal censorship by compliance teams within the industry, as well as trial and error by operators followed by the inevitable public blame, name and shame fining, which achieves little change or conformity with what the legislature actually intended by this provision in the law.'
This March, Spelinspektionen was forced to propose new plans to restrict what it perceived to be 'excessive' gambling advertising across the first two months of the year, while also formalizing a cooperation deal with the country's Konsumentverket consumer agency.
Konsumentverket is monitoring the areas of moderate marketing, alongside direct advertising to self-excluded customers, player-data collection, as well as overseeing lottery advertising. Spelinspektionen, meanwhile, is focusing more on bonus offers, sponsorship and product-related marketing across the country.
Regulations state that license holders are only permitted to offer customers a single bonus. However, Mandalorian Technologies and Betway - fined SEK9m and SEK5m respectively - are just two of the licensees to have been reprimanded for offering reactivation bonusing.
Speaking to SBC News in May 2019, Gustaf Hoffstedt, Secretary General of the Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling, admitted: 'The industry must lower the marketing volume. There is a general marketing fatigue among people and in particular regarding gambling. Six out of Sweden's twenty largest marketing buyers are gambling operators.
'We must also lower the tonality in our marketing messages. If we are able to find more creative messages, we don't have to scream all the time. And lastly, the whole industry must follow our marketing guidelines, whether they are a member of the association or not.'
Meanwhile, the second half of 2019 has started in similarly problematic fashion after Gaming Innovation Group (GiG) temporarily suspended its two sportsbooks in Sweden - Rizk and Guts - after bemoaning the 'lack of clarity' in the country's regulatory framework.
GiG Chief Executive Robin Reed concluded: 'We find ourselves in an impossible position due to the lack of clarity in the Swedish gambling regulation. We have to protect the company and its shareholders from potential penalties from such vagueries.'
It seems that once again, the Swedish example is yet another regulated case that predicted a future with much-vaunted and publicized predicted tax yield, but which will not, in fact, actually achieve the tax revenue required from licensing and regulation.
Not registered for G2E 2019 yet? Register here today.