Sweden launches first Online Casino Poker Site
28 November 2005

For the first time since the launch of the online casino industry, the Swedish government has decided that they will join the brigade, and has allowed a state-owned company, Svenska Spel, to be the first to offer Swedish players an online poker site.

The government decided that choosing Svenska Spel was the better idea to follow, instead of going with a private operator. The main reason for this was because the government believed that by employing Svenska, it would be unlikely that the company would choose private profit interests, as they would be more likely to act according to the influence and pressures from the government.

In addition, Svenska Spel anticipates that they will be able to attract a third of the 1 billion kronor Swedish market, if not more, within a year. That would mean Svenska would achieve an estimated $124 million US dollars. This is excellent news for the company, which leaves the Swedish government to feel that their first online casino poker venture will be a success.

It is interesting to note that this new online poker site has been designed as a two year trial and was made with a number of different conditions. For instance, players need to be 18 in order to gamble, and Swedish players will be allowed to make wagers only after they have pre determined a limit on the money they wish to bet. Currently the maximum limit has been set to 79,400 kroner which is about $10,000 US dollars.

Another term that Svenska Spel must follow is they are allowed to market the online poker site on the Internet and in newspapers only. Thus, it will be interesting to see how well the company makes out after their two years trial is up.