SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Following a request from the Swedish Football Association (SvFF), Svenska Spel‘s Sport & Casino igaming subsidiary has suspended all betting markets relating to the Division 2 Södra Svealand football league.
The decision comes after Svenska Spel has identified a number of suspicious betting patterns relating to the division.
“The situation that has arisen is so serious that we are unfortunately forced to take action to suspend the betting markets to safeguard the integrity of the league and prevent manipulation for the rest of the season,” SvFF secretary general Håkan Sjöstrand explained.
It has been revealed by a number of integrity monitoring bodies that ‘as many as 13’ matches are suspected to have been influenced by gambling activity, with Spelinspektionen calling for a blanket ban on offering odds on the league for all licensees in the market.
“We work daily to ensure that the gaming products we offer our customers are free from manipulation,” the operator’s head of sports betting and gaming security Dan Korhonen said. “In discussions with the Football Association, we have expressed our concerns about Division 2 Södra Svealand, as the number of matches under suspicion is so high that the integrity of the whole league can be questioned.
“We see no other solution than stopping all betting [on the league].”
It has not yet been confirmed as to whether the regulator will impose a blanket ban, however Svenska Spel has ensured that all betting on the league is suspended until further notice.
