Swedish revision of online gambling laws may be postponed

Plans to revise Sweden’s monopolistic online gambling laws, spurred by threats from the European Commission (see previous reports) could be temporarily delayed following the ruling party’s decision this week to call a snap general election.

Prime Minister Stefan Löfven of the Social Democrats party has set March 15 next year as the election date following his government’s failure to obtain budget approvals on December 3 as political rivals waged war on the government’s immigration policies.

The prime minister is hoping to secure a bigger majority to fend off opposition from the Sweden Democrats, who have managed to leverage a mere 13 percent share of the vote in the last election in September 2014 to powerfully influence the way in which Sweden is governed.

The unusual call for a general election has the potential to distract government from routine business such as revising online gambling laws until the election process has been completed, observers have noted.

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