Swedish football association wants betting restrictions to deter match fixing

Sweden’s Football Association, Svenska Fotbollförbundet (SvFF), has turned to the Swedish Courts for an interim decision on betting restrictions, particularly youth league and live betting.

The Association said it had approached the Lotteriinspektionen on numerous occasions to gain clarification on whether newly licensed betting firms would be permitted to offer markets on lower division football and live betting such as yellow cards, number of corners etc. to which it is opposed because of the threat of match fixing.

The SvFF said the Authority has referred to existing legal texts on inappropriate game items but were undecided on future gaming restrictions.

“We can not tolerate not prioritizing the task of parliament and government to counter match fixing through clear restrictions on gaming,” SvFF chief legal counsel, Anders Hübinette, said.

In its filing, the SvFF has asked the Administrative Court in Linköping, to limit the permitted game range to counteract the risk of match fixing detailing a ban on offering betting markets on lower-level games (under Elitettan on the Ladies side and Div. 2 on the men’s side), youth series and in-match events such as yellow cards and number of corners.

The association wants the ruling prior to the opening of the market on January 1, 2019 which will then stand in the interim until the gambling authority has published formal regulations.

“Although the Authority has not yet issued regulations, the legislation provides scope for conditional gaming licenses as we now demand,” Hübinette said.

“We have a duty to Swedish football to do everything we can to counteract the risk of match fixing.  We know that there is a greater risk of match fixing in the lower series levels where surveillance from both the federation and the media is lower.”

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