Svenska Spel May Go Private

May 24 - Sweden's gambling monopoly, Svenska Spel, may soon be partially sold off or privatized, according to comments made by the company's Finance Minister, Anders Borg.

The Swedish government is seeking to draw a strong line between games that are considered "soft" and therefore less 'harmful' to those that clearly require some form of official intervention in order to prevent problem gambling. This is being done as a tactic to ensure which games the company can insist on holding a monopoly over, despite pressure by the European Commission to change its monopoly strategy.

A gambling commission, which is presently undertaking to investigate Sweden's industry, has been instructed by Borg to consider whether it is possible to privatize any part of Svenska Spel without putting the consumer at risk.

A press secretary, speaking for Borg, said that it would be up to the gambling commission to determine which games were 'safe', and which had the potential to be addictive enough to warrant intervention. "The parts of Svenska Spel offering safer games are those that would be considered for privatization," said Anna-Charlotta Johansson.

Svenska Spel, which has recently adopted a strategy of deterring players from gambling, was slow to react and tried to downplay Andras Borg's announcement. "A decision on whether to sell off Svenska Spel is far away in the future," said the company's acting CEO, Anders Haag, "and our mandate today is the same as it was yesterday - to offer responsible gambling to Swedish citizens. If the privatization of some of the company becomes reality, then that would obviously mean major changes for Svenska Spel,? but I will not speculate on this."