The Gaming Inspection came up with its response to SvFF’s request for a prohibitive ban on offering games at matches in Division 2 Southern Svealand, SvFF’s request was based on reports that no less than 13 different matches may have been subject to betting-related manipulation during the spring. However, the Gaming Inspectorate rejected SvFF’s request.

In its response, the Gaming Inspectorate states that there is no possibility, with the support of the Gaming Act, to announce prohibitions or other measures to combat manipulation of results in sports. The authority states that it is working to develop regulations and that SvFF’s letter will be taken care of in that work.

We do not agree with the Gambling Inspectorate’s narrow interpretation of the Gaming Act. It must be possible for the responsible authority to make quick decisions in more urgent situations of this kind. Otherwise, this must be clarified in the legislation, says SvFF’s secretary general Håkan Sjöstrand.

In connection with SvFF submitting its request to the Gaming Inspection, the association also attributed the licensed gaming companies in the country with a wish that these would voluntarily suspend all games for the games in the series. Several gaming companies – Svenska Spel, Bethard, 888 and Unibet – have also indicated that they will obey SvFF’s request.

We hope, of course, that all serious companies will follow, despite the Gambling Inspectorate’s negative position. We cannot wait for the authority to finalize its regulations or to change the law, says SvFF’s secretary general Håkan Sjöstrand.

SvFF will now take enhanced measures to safeguard the integrity of the series as far as possible and prevent manipulation during the rest of the season. This includes on increased monitoring of the games in the series, but also an intensified monitoring of the gaming market to detect any deviations.

We are forced to devote considerable resources to monitoring and other measures, while today we are also reached by the news that the gaming market is turning more and thus the state is withdrawing more tax money than expected. It is not football itself, but games on football, that do the match fixing, and then the only decent thing is that authorities and gaming companies do what they can to help us in this fight, concludes Håkan Sjöstrand.