The Swedish Gambling Authority officially released a set of technical regulations for the Spelpaus national self-exclusion system on April 29, adding a standardized lock to the operational procedures of all licensed operators. These updated rules were passed by internal resolution on April 23 and will take effect on August 1, 2026. The core is to upgrade the way operators connect to Spelpaus from vague requirements to mandatory unified interface standards. According to the new regulations, each licensed operator will receive a unique identity code and encryption key, which must be used when querying self-exclusion registrations, and any direct marketing messages must be checked before being sent. More importantly, the new regulations split the query scenarios into two completely independent API channels—marketing queries must be completed through a dedicated marketing interface, while player registration and login checks must use another set of independent login interfaces. The regulatory authority is clear: a self-exclusion query can only be considered complete after formally confirming whether the user is in an excluded state, and there can no longer be any ambiguity or borderline operations.
Dual API channels and non-outsourced compliance baseline
The core constraint of the new regulations lies in the attribution of responsibility. Although operators are allowed to delegate technical checks to third-party service providers, compliance responsibilities cannot be outsourced. The licensee must ensure that the assigned identity codes and API keys are correctly used at all stages, and any outsourcing arrangements cannot become a shield to evade regulatory penalties. Since the gambling regulatory reform in Sweden in 2019, which introduced the Spelpaus system, all licensed operators have been required to integrate this registration system, with players able to choose exclusion periods of 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, or 12 months and above. The system update in 2023 added convenient access to gambling problem guidance information and allowed players to extend their self-exclusion periods.
An important detail is that although the new regulations define the overall technical framework, detailed API specifications, response formats, or service performance standards have not yet been announced, which are crucial for the integration planning of operators. This technical gap may leave room for subsequent compliance adjustments. Last year, a documentary series accused Spelpaus of data leakage, which the regulatory authority quickly refuted, emphasizing that all information was encrypted and stating that personal reasons for self-exclusion due to gambling addiction would not be disclosed. This tightening of technical regulations is also a systematic reinforcement in response to that trust crisis to some extent.
PASA official website continues to track global responsible gambling technology infrastructure and regulatory compliance dynamics, noting Sweden's detailed interface rules for the self-exclusion system, providing the latest technical governance reference sample for other jurisdictions that have established or are establishing similar systems.
————
This article is from "PASA-Global iGaming Leaders" gambling industry news channel: https://t.me/pasa_news
Original deep gambling channel: https://t.me/gamblingdeep
Free data reports: @pasa_research
PASA Matrix: @pasa002_bot
PASA official website: https://www.pasa.news
