Svenska Spel Waits On Supreme Court Verdict In TV4 Case

Swedish lottery operator, Svenska Spel, will soon understand whether they’ll need to produce copies of a disputed commercial deal brokered with native television channel, TV4. The Swedish Trade Association, known locally as ‘BOS’, has long since suggested the agreement between the two parties is in violation of Swedish gambling advertisement law.

First lodging their case back in 2019, BOS alleges that popular talk show programme ‘Nyhetsmorgon’ has facilitated a subtle marketing campaign on behalf of Svenska Spel. Each episode, a guest will reveal the contents of a Svenska Spel-sponsored scratch card titled ‘Trisslot’. The trade association determines that this constitutes a gambling advertisement, and therefore is subject to the regulations that accompany this enterprise. This would include making compulsory consumer protection information visible on screen, which has been historically absent from the Trisslot feature.

BOS first presented their concerns to the Swedish Consumer Agency, asserting that the operator was duty-bound to provide transparency on the detail of their professional arrangement with the media outlet. The hearing organization summarily referred the dispute to the Patent and Marketing Court, whose judgement failed to satisfy BOS’ demands. As a direct result, the trade group escalated their case to the Swedish Supreme Court, who have now agreed to review the affair.

‘’The Supreme Court will assess whether Svenska Spel is obliged to submit the commercial agreement between them and TV4 to the Swedish Consumer Agency’’ said a BOS spokesperson, adding ‘’only then can the actual question- whether Trisskrapet (alternate name for talk show slot) constitutes editorial material or advertising be decided’’.