Due to COVID-19, land-based casinos around the world have been forced to close their doors and punters have headed online to get a slice of the action.
It’s not just regular casino players that have jumped to online casinos, more and more casino novices are also joining in the fun to pass the COVID-19 lockdown boredom.
In a bid to curb addition and prevent people from spending too much money, the Swedish government has imposed a weekly deposit limit of SEK5,000 (€475) for online casinos.
Sweden Getting Tough on Gambling
In a stark contrast to other parts of the world, Sweden has come down harshly on the online casino industry.
These new regulations are set to go live on July 2 with no exceptions. All operators must adhere or face huge fines.
This means that casinos have less than three weeks to make this happen, a feature that’s going to come at a huge cost to operators.
The bad news doesn’t end there. Online casino bonuses in Sweden are to be capped at SEK100 (€9.50), a less than appealing bonus for players.
A Strong Case for Bitcoin Casinos
This new regulation that’s set to come into effect in the coming weeks is just another cause for Bitcoin casinos.
With a Curacao license, online casinos can offer a leading Bitcoin and crypto casino experience, allowing players to bypass the deposit limits set out by governments.
While we don’t advocate breaking the rules, this is an increasingly common way for players to bypass restrictions set out by governments.
The other option for Swedish online casino players is to head to unlicensed casinos or those located on the dark web.
While this new regulation is designed to keep the Swedish casino players safer from adverse risk and losses, it will drive them to unsafe online casinos and making poor decisions.
Finland is Clamping Down Too
In case you’re wondering, there are other countries that are clamping down on how much online casino players can pay with.
Back in May, Finland lowered its monthly loss limits down to €500, all the way from €2,000.
This was a huge change for Finnish online casino players, forcing many who reached the limits early in the week to find alternative places to play – with many turning to Bitcoin and other crypto casinos.
These regulations have helped Bitcoin and crypto gambling become more and more popular, driving a new wave of crypto adoption.
Better Ways to Go About it
Not everyone has the same kind of wealth, and treating everyone in that manner is going to cause big problems for both Sweden and Finland.
For some people, €475 is a lot of money each week, so they will have no problem in remaining under this cap.
But for other, more wealthy online casino players, this cap is stifling and will force them to seek out alternatives.
If Sweden and Finland want this new regulation to be truly effective, the restrictions should be scalable depending on the financial status of each player.
COVID-19 Still an Excuse for Regulators
Regulations of this sort are still coming out despite COVID-19 restrictions being removed.
Las Vegas has thrown open its doors, with players already flocking to Sin City, with one winning big already.
Regulators are still using COVID-19 as an excuse to further their agenda and expedite their end goal.
Who knows how low these new deposit limits will go in the coming months as Sweden realizes that these caps aren’t working.
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