Such measures were initially imposed in July 2020, and were only meant to last until the end of the year.
However they have been extended before, the most recent extension being until June 2021.
The proposed extension was put out for consultation, and in its response, Spelinspektionen said it believes that the principle behind the extension makes sense, as Covid-19 is still having a major impact in Sweden.
However, it said the rules regarding the deposit limit need to be made clearer moving forward.
Last week, the regulator appealed a decision from the Administrative Court in Linköping to overturn sanctions against Kindred regarding a loophole with the deposit cap that meant Kindred players could spend more than SEK5,000 on casino games.
It said that the Linköping decision would mean the deposit cap “loses its significance as a consumer protection provision” and allow operators that offer betting alongside casino to “easily circumvent the deposit limits”.
Director general Camilla Rosenberg said: “There are strong reasons to clarify the meaning of the provision in the memorandum which now forms the basis for the proposal for continued validity of regulation.
“The provision does not prevent a player who has raised his deposit limit to an amount that exceeds SEK 5,000 can again be offered commercial online games if the deposit limit is later lowered to a maximum of SEK 5,000 per week, even in that case the player has made actual deposits to his gaming account that exceed SEK 5,000. “The question is important for the licensees who offer both commercially online gaming and betting.”
As a result, the Swedish Gaming Inspectorate has appealed to the Administrative Court judgment to the Court of Appeal.
The responsible gambling features will be enabled as default as part of the GiG Data real-time data platform, allowing partners to intervene with at-risk players via actions such as direct messages in real-time.
Operators will also benefit from early detection and end-to-end lifetime monitoring capabilities for players that are likely to be vulnerable, while actions can be tailored to each partner’s needs.
“As a continued effort to build technology that supports today’s igaming demands, we are excited to launch our proactive capabilities for player safety as part of our data platform,” GiG data director Stephen Borg said. “This initiative will support a healthier gambling environment for our partners and their players.”
Meanwhile, GiGhas agreed a deal to launch a new online casino with the same ownership as an existing partner.
Neither the identity of the casino nor the partner was not disclosed, but GiG did confirm that it will provide its igaming platform as part of the deal, with the new casino to operate under a separate entity with its own licence.
The agreement is based on a revenue share model with a minimum duration of four years, with the new casino set to launch in the fourth quarter of this year.
“I am happy to sign the third new platform contract so far in 2021, with a brand coming from this reputable owner and operational outfit,” GiG chief executive Richard Brown said. Richard Brown
“I am sure the collaboration will drive success for both parties and truly enjoyable igaming experience for their customer base.”
The double announcement comes after GiG yesterday confirmed the termination of its platform agreement with an unnamed European media group, over the group’s plans to pursue a white label model instead of its own licence.
A deal had been brokered in December 2020, under which GiG agreed to share its igaming and data platform with the group in addition to other managed services.
However the media group’s insistence on using a white label licence to operate – after it had previously planned on applying for its own licence – has created a situation where the partnership was “no longer viable for either party to move forward”.
In the second part of the Tribal Gaming keynote, Sarris talks ICE 365 through the fight for sovereignty, which ultimately succeeded in 2000 when Congress passed the Graton Rancheria Restoration Act.
He also discusses the benefits that securing federal recognition brings to the tribe, such as allowing it to construct a casino on tribal lands.
Tribal government gaming became possible after passage of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) was passed in 1988. Even then, establishing a Tribe’s right to conduct gaming operations under the new law was often a difficult and costly struggle.
Gene Johnson, Victor Strategies
At the time, few could have envisioned what this industry would become today and the many ways that it would serve to sustain tribal communities.
IGRA reflected the relationship between the federal and tribal governments that has existed since the Revolution, when the United States assumed the former role of the British monarchy in establishing treaties with the Indian nations.
However, while the federal government now allowed tribes to conduct Class II gaming independently under IGRA, in order to operate Class III casino-style slots and table games, tribes would have to negotiate a compact with the state government in which their reservations were located. Thus, the path to casino gaming was not a smooth one but a journey featuring many twists and turns.
IGRA was not a gift. In fact, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and US Senate deliberations which led to IGRA were driven by complaints at the state level. The act constituted an effort to regulate and contain the high stakes tribal bingo operations being run most notably by the Seminoles.
The 1987 Cabazon decision clarified tribal regulatory authority and prepared the ground for IGRA. 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act provided a remedy for Johnson Act restrictions on slot machines through the vehicle of a tribal-state compact. Soon after, the state of Minnesota signed the first state gaming compacts and other tribes began to follow.
Growth
Tribal gaming expanded rapidly during the 1990s and the first half of the next decade. This growth coincided with simultaneous expansion of the commercial gaming industry and state lotteries as gambling became available in more and more US states.
The growth in Indian gaming revenues, illustrated in the table below, began to slow after 2005 and were impacted by the Great Recession in the late 2000s, but positive growth continued afterwards largely spurred by existing expansions and land taken into trust. Today tribal government gaming is a $35bn industry with that revenue being generated by 524 domestic gaming operations located in 29 states and owned by 245 of the nation’s 574 federally recognized tribes.
Indian gaming has also continued to expand by moving off the reservation and competing in commercial markets in states that have no compacted tribal gaming, including established operations in Indiana, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and proposed casinos in the US and overseas.
Most importantly, these gaming facilities represent regional economic engines, generating $105bn in total economic output according to the most recent measurement of 2016 data by Meister Economic Consulting. The great majority of net revenues are dedicated to tribal services which allow economic independence while the wider economic uplift benefits the wider regional community.
Source: National Indian Gaming Commission
Indian Gaming 2.0
Tribal government gaming now stands at the threshold of a new era of expansion fueled by technology and the availability of new gaming products. Principal among these new products is sports betting, which is no longer prohibited since the Supreme Court struck down PASPA in 2018.
Sports betting legalisation has highlighted both opportunities and threats to Indian gaming operations.
The opportunities are evident in acquiring a new gaming vertical which is highly resonant with casino gaming but brings in an almost entirely new and younger demographic.
However, legalisation of sports wagering across half of US states has also opened the door for new entities to enter the gaming space including professional sports teams, stadium owners, media companies, state lotteries, former offshore operators, and even payday loan providers. The legislative efforts to include these new entities often challenge tribal sovereignty and gaming exclusivity.
The rollout of sports betting in Indian Country has followed a variety of regulatory models including commercial operations in states like Michigan, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, operations under state compacts in Connecticut, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, and most recently, Arizona. Retail sports betting operations are an easy assimilation for traditional land-based casinos but the real money in sports betting is generated by mobile/online operations and here acquiring the capability becomes much more complex, both legislatively and operationally.
Regarding the legislative complexities, an appropriate example is the recent mobile wagering legislation in New York, the fourth largest US sports betting market. It appears to defy logical analysis and in its present form may eliminate the regional exclusivity granted tribes in the 2013 gaming expansion law.
Another example is Arizona, where legislation granted the tribes long sought-after expansion opportunities but at the price of some degree of gaming exclusivity illustrating the influence of the leagues. Washington State tribes successfully defended their sports betting exclusivity last year in the face of a legislative challenge from card rooms.
The landmark agreement in Connecticut, which will allow the Pequots and Mohegans to conduct sports betting and igaming under state compact, was a multi-year process with enough plot twists for a Netflix series. Operational complexities and the importance of choosing the right platform partner are another story too long for this brief article.
Sports betting legislation newly proposed in Texas, the second largest state market, does not even mention the three tribes struggling to operate Class II casinos in the state but has been written to provide the greatest benefits to team owners. California and Florida, the first and third largest state markets, both have powerful gaming tribes that will zealously protect their interest and expectations lean towards future sports betting legislation which would be expressed through tribal operators.
The history of Indian gaming has been a successful one of tribes struggling to assert their rights and sovereignty as independent governments existing within the United States. The future of Indian gaming remains a very bright one but to achieve the full potential of new interactive wagering verticals tribes will need to fight for their rights to fair treatment and carefully assess their relationships with state governments and new market entrants.
Situations like the one in New York have resulted in calls to explore an update to IGRA, a law written down before the Internet existed, to regulate mobile tribal gaming operations.
Meanwhile, with all the chatter around sports betting, little attention has been paid to igaming, an interactive vertical almost twice as profitable as sports wagering which has been operated by tribes in New Jersey and Pennsylvania for years. It is now coming online in Michigan and will soon be operated under compact by two tribes in Connecticut. Stay tuned for the next expansion era for Indian Gaming.
Now you’ve read Gene’s thoughts, have your say through the Tribal Gaming Survey. This project sees ICE 365 collaborate with Pechanga.net, to gather opinions from tribes on the future of their gaming industry. It’s open to all tribal gaming operators, so share your thoughts here.
Gene Johnson has more than 30 years of unique experience in the gaming industry. He began working in Atlantic City casinos in 1989 and has held executive positions ranging across the areas of MIS, Quality Assurance, Market Research, and Strategic Planning & Analysis.
In 1997 he founded EE Johnson Research, a marketing research and consulting firm specializing in the casino industry and providing market and customer research with a special focus on technology as well as gambling motivation and behavior. Mr. Johnson has since held senior positions at Spectrum Gaming Group and Gaming Knowledge Partners. In 2016 he co-founded Victor Strategies with partners Rob Miller and Victor Rocha. Victor Strategies is a unique professional firm providing expert advisory services and critical business insights to the gaming industry with a particular focus on Indian Country. V-S provides clients with policy and business strategies along with market research and analysis essential for informed decision making and effective operations.
Over his career, Mr. Johnson has managed and conducted numerous qualitative and quantitative studies with gamblers of all types, as well as extensive consumer research for a broad array of corporate, government, and non-profit clients. Mr. Johnson has testified before the U.S. Senate, the Federal Trade Commission, and before multiple state, territorial, and tribal governments, has written articles featured in many industry publications and speaks regularly at major gaming industry conferences on a wide range of subjects.
Agua Caliente Casinos COO Saverio Scheri and Prairie Band gaming operations director Chris Garrow hope they’re not in, as the tribal partnership masterclass continues.
In their discussion with Jason ‘Wolf’ Rosenberg, CEO of Amercan iGaming Solutions, Scheri and Garrow their share their views on market access deals for sports betting, and the risks involved.
Tribal gaming accounts for almost half of all industry revenue generated in the US. It stretches throughout almost every state, and provides vital funding to Native American communities.
At a time when the US market is expanding and evolving significantly, this has seen a host of European companies expand into the country. But gaming in Indian Country is different from commercial casinos; there are different goals, motivations and beneficiaries.
This report, compiled by Paul Girvan of PKC Gaming & Leisure Consultancy, and sponsored by Kambi, aims to offer insights into how tribal gaming came to be and how it is governed. It examines the economic impact of casinos on Indian lands, as well as the market’s growth potential in the coming years.
And with adoption of newly regulated products such as sports betting and igaming differing from state to state, regulatory developments in Michigan and Washington state are put under the spotlight. Amid the clamor for partnerships, the report aims to provide the Native American operators with a clear-eyed overview of the potential deals that can be struck, while explaining to their prospective partners what they are looking to achieve through such tie-ups.
Tribes are also expanding domestically and internationally. This year marked the first time a tribal-operated casino opened on the Las Vegas Strip, and the operator of that property, Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment, is also targeting new facilities in Japan, South Korea and Greece. Bobby Soper, its recently appointed international president, discusses these ambitions.
Our thanks to Kambi for sponsoring this report. We hope it proves useful.
While the regulator supported proposals such as a licence for software providers and limits on ads, it argued that loss limits should be investigated further before they are implemented, and should apply to various high-risk forms of gambling rather than one vertical.
“A loss limit should also be supplemented with mandatory indication of login time.” added the Inspectorate.
The Inspectorate also stated that requiring “particular moderation” in advertising would be a positive step in enforcing responsible gambling.
This standard, it said, is already used for alcohol ads.
“It is logical to have the same basic requirements for the marketing of games as on the marketing of alcohol based on the risks associated with the products,” it said.
The Inspectorate welcomed the introduction of a gaming software licence, but added that it should not be required to manufacture gambling software, rather only for providing software too an operator. The introduction of permits for licensees was put forward to reduce unlicensed activity. It is also being investigated separately.
However, the Inspectorate seemed hesitant with the proposal that the Swedish Public Health Agency should create a risk classification model of different gambling forms, on the grounds that regulatory action would need to be prioritised.
Although gaming classifications already exist in Sweden, the Inspectorate called for official guidance on how risk potential will be measured.
In response to the Inquiry’s call for safer gambling measures, the Inspectorate asked for a limit on bonus offers in public lotteries to curb irresponsible gambling. The Swedish online trade association Branscheforenigen för Onlienspel (BOS) also responded to the Inquiry, warning that low channelisation verticals could be at risk of suffering under unlicensed operators.
The Inquiry was launched with the purpose of tracking the development of online gambling in the country after it was legalised in 2019.
It was initially meant to examine additional measures to those outlined in the Gambling Act, but was then amended to include the limitation of responsible gambling advertising.
In August 2020 Sweden’s Equality Commission (Jämlikhetskommissionen) published a report of its own, which Spelinspektionen also responded to. This report included many controversial suggestions, including calling for time limits on gambling.
The Inspectorate responded positively to some aspects the report, but did not agree with its suggestion that anonymised information about customers should be provided to the Inspectorate. “The introduction of such a register would also assume a thorough impact assessment and analysis of its compatibility with the constitutions and Sweden’s international obligations,” responded the Inspectorate.
“Solely the implementation of such a register would take about three years and require significant resources of the authority.”
Meanwhile, it questioned the feasibility of many other aspects, including the creation of a state-run portal for all licensed gambling.
BOS hit out at the report, disagreeing with the suggestion that all of Sweden’s gambling should be run through a state-run portal.
Under this permit, the group will soon be able offer customers in the state access to its flagship Unibet online sportsbook.
Kindred said that after successful launches in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Indiana, and with signed agreements in a further 8 states, entry into Virginia will be a key part of Unibet’s expansion across the east coast of the US.
“We are excited to add Virginia to the growing list of states that Unibet and Kindred Group call home as we continue our expansion in the US market,” said Manuel Stan, senior vice president for the US at Kindred Group.
“Our aim is to go live shortly and we expect that the success we have seen in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Indiana will of course follow in Virginia.”
At an investor day event, the MGM-Entain joint venture announced it posted net revenue of $178m for the entirety of last year, but it appears set to eclipse that total by early Q2.
Looking further ahead, the operator forecast annual revenue of over $1bn 2022 with a 20-25% US market share of a market it estimates to be worth $32bn.
