Good rewards for Swedish government poker monopoly

The release of the 2006 financial results by Swedish government gambling monopoly Svenske Spel underlines one reason why a state dominated online gambling asset is a difficult thing to share.

The government owned and licensed online gaming company posted record profits of $685 million for 2006, thanks mainly to online poker division operations and in just over a year since the decision was made to enter the sector, powered by Boss Media.

"It has really fulfilled its purpose of bringing home a big part of Sweden's unregulated poker playing to a responsible environment within the country's borders," stated Jesper Karrbrink, the CEO of Svenska Spel AB, adding that the goal was to transfer existing Internet poker players from an unregulated market to a regulated one.

Svenske Spel's payout should encourage further the government of the Netherlands, which announced earlier this year (see previous InfoPowa report) that it is to partner with turnkey provider Cryptologic in launching a new online casino and poker site later this year. But that could carry its own complications as the Dutch are members of the EU, which is insisting on the free passage of goods and services between EU member states.