Casinos Without a Swedish Licence: Law, Tax and Risks

A casino without a Swedish licence is an online casino that holds no licence from Spelinspektionen, the Swedish Gambling Authority. Playing at one is not a crime for you as a player: the Gambling Act (Spellagen, SFS 2018:1138) targets the operators and promoters, not their customers. What changes is your protection. Spelpaus does not apply, Swedish complaint bodies cannot help you, payments can be blocked, and your winnings can be taxed at 30 % of net winnings per operator and year, depending on where and how the game is offered.

This guide sets out the rules as they stand in October 2026: what the licence requires, what “without a Swedish licence” means in law for you and for the operator, tax with a worked example, Spelpaus, payment blocking, complaint routes, how to check a licence yourself and the enforcement picture for 2025 and 2026. We do not list or recommend any casino on this page. If you are registered with Spelpaus, or you are looking for a way round a limit you set yourself, please talk to Stödlinjen first: the national helpline is free and confidential on 020-81 91 00 (stodlinjen.se). You must be 18 or over to gamble.

1. 1
   EU

   Casinos without a Swedish licence

   EU-licensed operators we have reviewed

   • MGA or EMTA licence
   • Complaints through an ADR body
   • Accounts in EUR
   Visit site18+. Terms and conditions apply. Play responsibly. Stödlinjen 020-81 91 00.
2. 2
   MT

   MGA-licensed casinos

   Licensed by the Malta Gaming Authority

   • Licence number in the MGA register
   • eCOGRA for disputes
   Visit site18+. Terms and conditions apply. Play responsibly. Stödlinjen 020-81 91 00.
3. 3
   €

   Casinos with fast withdrawals

   Clear withdrawal limits and processing times

   • Withdrawal limits stated in the terms
   • Verification before the first withdrawal
   Visit site18+. Terms and conditions apply. Play responsibly. Stödlinjen 020-81 91 00.
4. 4
   ID

   Casinos without BankID

   Sign up with a mobile number and a one-time code

   • No BankID login
   • ID check (KYC) before you withdraw
   Visit site18+. Terms and conditions apply. Play responsibly. Stödlinjen 020-81 91 00.
5. 5
   FS

   Free spins without wagering

   Free spin winnings with no wagering requirement

   • Maximum win per spin stated in the terms
   • Winnings paid as cash
   Visit site18+. Terms and conditions apply. Play responsibly. Stödlinjen 020-81 91 00.
6. 6
   ⚽

   Betting without a Swedish licence

   Sportsbook and casino on the same account

   • Sports bonus with its own terms
   Visit site18+. Terms and conditions apply. Play responsibly. Stödlinjen 020-81 91 00.

The cards above lead to our general guides by topic. None of them is a list of casinos for Swedish players, and nothing on this page is an invitation to play at a site that lacks a Swedish licence. How we research and score operators elsewhere on the site is set out in how we rate casinos, and our editorial policy explains how commercial relationships are kept apart from facts like the ones below.

The short answer

Why was the Swedish Gambling Act devised?

Before 2019, online gambling in Sweden was reserved for the state-owned Svenska Spel and the horse-racing operator ATG, plus lotteries run by non-profit associations. International operators served Swedish players from Malta and elsewhere, and Swedish law had little reach over them. Spellagen changed that from 1 January 2019 by opening the market to any operator that obtains a licence and follows Swedish rules, while making it unlawful to target Swedes without one.

The policy goal is “channelisation”: keeping as much play as possible on licensed sites where consumer protection applies. Spelinspektionen measures the channelisation rate every year. In its report of 15 June 2026 it estimated that 84 % of Swedish online gambling took place with licensed operators in 2025 (85 % in 2024, 86 % in 2023). For betting the figure was 96 %, for online casino 81 %. Roughly one krona in five spent on online casino therefore still goes outside the licensing system, which explains the enforcement push described further down.

Licence types

Spellagen sorts gambling into licence types. Commercial online gambling, which covers online casino and betting, is open to private companies. State licences are reserved for a wholly state-owned company (chapter 5, section 2), and public-benefit licences for lotteries are reserved for non-profit associations. Since 1 July 2023 companies that make or supply gambling software for the Swedish market also need a supplier licence. A licence for commercial online gambling is granted for a fixed period, and the register shows each licence holder, the licence type and its validity dates.

What does it take to get a Swedish gambling licence?

A Swedish licence brings rules that offshore sites usually do not follow. The ones players notice most are:

• Registration and identification of every customer before play (chapter 12, sections 1 and 2), in practice usually with BankID.
• A check against Spelpaus before any play (chapter 12, section 4).
• A deposit limit that you set yourself; a raised limit takes effect at the earliest after 72 hours (chapter 14, section 7, and the Gambling Ordinance).
• A panic button that pauses all gambling with that operator for 24 hours (chapter 14, section 11).
• One bonus only, offered on the first occasion you play with that operator (chapter 14, section 9).
• No gambling on credit: the credit ban in chapter 14, section 8 was tightened from 1 May 2026.
• Technical rules (SIFS 2022:3), including at least three seconds per slot round, autoplay included, with testing by accredited laboratories.
• Payments only through payment service providers under the Payment Services Act (chapter 13, section 5).
• Gaming tax of 22 % of gross gaming revenue from 1 July 2024 (18 % before), paid by the operator, not the player.

A weekly deposit cap of SEK 5,000 also applied to online casino, but only from 2 July 2020 to 14 November 2021. Today the rule is that licensed operators must let you set your own limits. Anti-money-laundering rules also apply: identity and source-of-funds checks are triggered at the latest when stakes or paid-out winnings reach EUR 2,000, including linked transactions.

What “without a Swedish licence” means in law

For you as a player

There is no offence for the player. Spelinspektionen’s own guidance is that the law is aimed at the operator and promoter side, and no provision of Spellagen punishes an individual for playing at a foreign site. In practice, the consequences for you are civil and financial rather than criminal: you lose Swedish consumer protection, you may owe tax that a licensed site would never trigger, payments can fail, and an account can be closed if the operator later withdraws from Sweden.

For the operator

The position for the casino is different. Under chapter 1, section 2 of Spellagen, online games count as offered in Sweden when they are directed at the Swedish market, and chapter 3, section 3 requires a licence for that. Chapter 19 makes it a crime to provide gambling without the necessary licence (olovlig spelverksamhet, section 1) and to promote participation in it (främjande av olovligt spel, section 2). Both carry fines or up to two years in prison, and a serious offence carries at least six months and up to six years. Chapter 3, section 7 also bans promoting unlicensed gambling in a professional or commercial context, which is why Swedish media sites and streamers have been ordered to remove casino banners.

When is a casino “directed at Sweden”?

Spelinspektionen makes an overall assessment in each case. The preparatory works for the law (prop. 2017/18:220) name Swedish text and deposits or winnings in Swedish kronor as typical signals. In a ban decision of 11 March 2026 (case 26Si334) the regulator added three findings: the Swedish country code was preselected when a visitor registered from a Swedish IP address, the sites were marketed through Swedish-language websites and Swedish-speaking streamers, and nothing stopped Swedish consumers from opening an account.

That decision also states the other side of the test: if Swedish consumers are not allowed to register, Spelinspektionen does not regard the game as offered in Sweden at all. Many international operators simply block Sweden for that reason. Skatteverket applies a similar test for tax: a game is directed at the Swedish market if, for example, it has Swedish text, is marketed in Sweden or lets you deposit and withdraw in Swedish kronor.

An EU licence does not give a right to target Sweden

A licence from Malta or another EEA country is not a Swedish licence. On 8 January 2026 Spelinspektionen banned Claymore Malta, an MGA-licensed company, from offering games in Sweden without a Swedish licence. Any operator that directs its games at Swedish players needs a Swedish licence, wherever else it is licensed. A footer badge from Malta, Estonia or Curaçao tells you who supervises the company at home; it says nothing about whether it may target you.

Do I have to pay taxes on my winnings at an unlicensed casino?

Most guides get this wrong, including the old version of this page. The rules come from the Income Tax Act (Inkomstskattelagen, IL 1999:1229) and Skatteverket’s guidance on winnings from games. Chapter 8, section 3 makes winnings tax-free when the game is organised in Sweden with a Swedish licence, or within the EEA, as long as the game does not require a Swedish licence. Chapter 42, section 25 makes other winnings over SEK 100 taxable as capital income. A casino without a Swedish licence is never “tax-free” by default.

Skatteverket, not the casino and not us, decides whether a particular game met the targeting test. Treat any site’s claim that winnings are tax-free for Swedes with suspicion, especially when the site is licensed outside the EEA.

How the 30 % is calculated

• Per operator and per year. At an operator outside the EEA, the taxable amount is the net winnings: the difference between your total winnings and your total stakes with the same gambling operator during the calendar year, taxed at 30 % as capital income.
• Small wins. Winnings of at most SEK 100 are tax-free.
• No cross-operator offsetting. A loss with one operator cannot be set against a win with another (Supreme Administrative Court, HFD 2015 ref. 26).
• No other deductions. Costs of taking part, other than the stakes themselves, cannot be deducted.
• Where to declare. You declare the net winnings yourself as capital income in box 7.2 of your income tax return. A foreign casino does not report or withhold anything for Skatteverket.

Examples of casino winnings and taxation

Suppose that during 2026 you play at two casinos licensed outside the EEA. At Casino A you stake the equivalent of SEK 40,000 over the year and win back SEK 52,000. At Casino B you stake SEK 15,000 and win back SEK 9,000.

Your overall result across both sites is a gain of SEK 6,000, yet the tax bill is SEK 3,600, because Casino B’s loss cannot reduce Casino A’s gain. Accounts in euros also have to be converted to kronor, so keep your transaction history and the exchange rates you used. The same SEK 12,000 gain at a Swedish-licensed casino would carry no tax for you at all.

A second example shows the EEA question. You win SEK 20,000 net in a year at a Malta-licensed casino that has a Swedish-language site and lets you play in kronor. Those are the signals Skatteverket names, so the game is likely to count as directed at Sweden, and the SEK 20,000 would be taxed at 30 % (SEK 6,000). At a Malta casino that blocks Swedish registrations, you would not have been able to play in the first place.

Deadlines, penalties and corrections

The income tax return is due on 2 May, or the next weekday if that falls on a weekend; for income year 2025 the deadline was 4 May 2026. A late return costs a late-filing fee of SEK 1,250, with a further SEK 1,250 after three months and another SEK 1,250 after five months. Undeclared winnings can also lead to a tax surcharge (skattetillägg) of 40 % of the tax that was missed. There is no surcharge if you correct the return yourself before Skatteverket acts, and corrections can be made up to six years back.

Crypto stakes

Playing with cryptocurrency adds a second tax layer. Skatteverket treats using crypto as a stake as a disposal of the crypto, so any gain since you bought it is taxed at 30 % as capital income and a loss is 70 % deductible, using the average cost method, reported in form K4 section D. Our crypto gambling guide covers the other risks of paying with crypto.

What about responsible gaming at a casino without a Swedish licence?

Spelpaus.se is the national self-exclusion register run by Spelinspektionen. Once you register, every Swedish-licensed operator must block you, across casino, betting, bingo and lotteries. You can choose 10 days, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months or until further notice (at least 12 months), and a pause cannot be ended early. Spelinspektionen’s annual report counted 134,484 people registered on 31 December 2025, and figures reported in the trade press put the total at just under 138,000 in the second quarter of 2026.

Spelpaus does not apply to unlicensed sites. A casino without a Swedish licence does not check the register, and its own tools work differently. Self-exclusion and deposit limits there usually apply per brand, so excluding yourself at one site does not block you at its sister sites. Limits may be set only through support, and raising them may take effect after a short waiting period or immediately, depending on the operator’s own rules. Mandatory reality checks, the 24-hour panic button and the three-second slot rule do not follow you either.

Spelinspektionen’s research lists self-exclusion as one of the reasons people move to unlicensed sites. If that is your reason, the honest advice is to stay away from every casino without a Swedish licence and contact Stödlinjen on 020-81 91 00. Our responsible gambling page lists further help and tools.

Safer play checklist

• Set a monthly budget you can afford to lose before you open any gambling account.
• Use your bank’s gambling block if it offers one; several Swedish banks let you stop card payments to gambling merchants in their app.
• Register with Spelpaus if you want a break from all licensed gambling; it covers every Swedish-licensed brand at once.
• Never chase losses, and never deposit again to “unlock” a withdrawal.
• Call Stödlinjen (020-81 91 00) if gambling is costing you sleep, money or relationships. Relatives can call too.

Payment blocking and Swedish payments

Swedish players notice the difference between the two markets most clearly at the cashier. Licensed casinos use kronor, BankID and Swedish payment methods such as Swish and Trustly-based pay and play. Casinos without a Swedish licence that accept Swedes typically run accounts in euros, so your bank or card issuer converts every deposit and withdrawal, usually with an exchange-rate margin.

Payment blocking is the second difference. Spellagen lets the government require payment service providers to reject card payments to gambling without the necessary licence, identified by the merchant category code, and to hand over the information needed to block transfers of stakes and winnings to and from unlicensed operators. A payment provider that ignores the duty to reject such a payment order can be charged a sanction fee by Spelinspektionen (chapter 19, section 11, added in 2023). To stop licensed operators being blocked by mistake, Spelinspektionen tells payment providers which companies hold Swedish licences.

For you, the result is unpredictable payments: a card deposit can be declined, a bank can refuse a transfer, and a payout can be held while a payment provider asks questions. Some Swedish banks also decline card payments to gambling merchants as a matter of policy. Workarounds through e-wallets, vouchers or crypto do not change the legal position and add their own fees and risks. Our Zimpler casinos and Trustly casinos guides explain the pay-and-play methods used by licensed sites.

Complaint routes by licence

Swedish bodies cannot help in a dispute with an unlicensed casino. Spelinspektionen’s role is to stop an operator targeting Sweden, not to recover your money, and the National Board for Consumer Disputes (ARN) does not take cases against these operators. What you can do depends on the licence:

If an offshore casino will not pay

1. Ask support, in writing, for the exact clause in the terms they rely on.
2. Send the requested identity documents once, through the secure upload, and keep copies and timestamps.
3. Use the complaint route for the casino’s licence from the table above, and keep to its deadlines.
4. If the casino names an independent ADR body, file there once the casino’s own process is exhausted.
5. Ask your card issuer about a chargeback if the casino took money and delivered nothing; card scheme deadlines are short.
6. Report the site to Spelinspektionen if it targets Sweden. That will not get your money back, but it feeds enforcement.
7. Do not deposit again to “unlock” a withdrawal. Requests like that are a classic sign of a rogue site.

How to check a casino’s licence yourself

1. Find the licence number and company name in the footer or the terms. A badge without a number or a company name is a warning sign.
2. Look it up with the regulator, not the casino. The MGA has a public licence verification page that lists the domains covered by each licence. For Estonia, EMTA (the Tax and Customs Board) publishes a list of legal gambling operators. Curaçao licences can be verified with the CGA at cert.cga.cw. For Anjouan, validate using the seal ID on the site, because a lookup by bare domain always returns “invalid”.
3. Check that the domain is on the licence. A licence covers named domains; a brand missing from the register entry is not covered.
4. Search Spelinspektionen’s licence register to see whether the brand holds a Swedish licence, and its decision lists to see whether the company has been banned.
5. Read the restricted-countries list. If Sweden is excluded, an account can be closed and winnings withheld under the terms.
6. Read the bonus terms: wagering, maximum bet, time limit, maximum conversion and excluded payment methods.

Registers are not always available. The CGA confirmed unauthorised access to its portal on 17 and 22 September 2026, the portal was still offline on 2 October 2026, and the CGA says existing licences remain valid. If a register is down, wait rather than rely on a screenshot supplied by the casino. Our guides to safe online casinos and legal online casinos go through these checks in more detail.

Enforcement in 2025 and 2026

Spelinspektionen has stepped up action against both operators and the sites that promote them. Its annual report for 2025 counted 20 bans, three orders against promoters and 70 companies on its ban list at the turn of the year. Selected decisions and rulings from its illegal-gambling news archive:

A ban applies to the company, not just a domain name. Mirror sites and new domains run by the same company remain covered. On the legislative side, a government memorandum on the scope of Spellagen (Ds 2025:23) proposes clarifying when a game counts as offered in Sweden, and it treats payment and other services for unlicensed gambling as possible promotion. As of October 2026 Sweden has no general DNS blocking of gambling sites, unlike Denmark and Norway.

Red flags

• Swedish-language pages, SEK prices or Swedish streamer promotions combined with no Swedish licence: these are the exact signals Spelinspektionen uses in its bans.
• A company already named in a Spelinspektionen decision, or a “new” domain that turns out to be a mirror of a banned site.
• A licence number that does not appear in the regulator’s register, or a domain that is not listed on that licence.
• Withdrawal limits far below the deposit limits, fees on withdrawals or a monthly fee on inactive accounts.
• Bonus terms with very high wagering (50x or more), short deadlines and a low maximum conversion.
• Requests for extra deposits, “taxes” or “verification fees” before a payout.
• Claims that winnings are tax-free for Swedes at a casino licensed outside the EEA. Under Swedish law that is wrong.

Licensed vs unlicensed casinos: a comparison

What you give up, and why some players still choose them

Players mostly mention bonuses (more than one offer, cashback and loyalty schemes), a wider game selection, faster slot rounds and sign-up without BankID. Those differences are real, but each corresponds to a consumer-protection rule in Swedish law. In exchange you give up Spelpaus and mandatory limits, a Swedish complaints route, tax-free winnings in most cases, SEK accounts and Swedish payment methods.

Predictability is the other cost. Unlicensed sites may change their terms, restrict Swedish accounts or disappear, as several did after the 2025 and 2026 bans. A balance held in a casino that later blocks Sweden can be hard to recover, and there is no Swedish body to ask for help.

What licensed Swedish casinos offer instead

If the appeal of an offshore casino is speed or convenience, the licensed market already covers much of it. Many Swedish-licensed casinos combine BankID registration with pay-and-play deposits, so you can start within a minute without filling in a form, and withdrawals to a Swedish bank account are often paid quickly. Everything is in kronor, winnings are tax-free, and your Spelpaus status follows you across every licensed site. What you do not get is a stream of bonuses, because Swedish rules allow one welcome offer per operator. Our no account casinos page explains how pay and play works, and players in Denmark can read the same guide for their market: casinos without a Danish licence.

UK players

This page is written for people resident in Sweden. If you live in Great Britain, only operators licensed by the UK Gambling Commission may offer you gambling (Gambling Act 2005), and GAMSTOP self-exclusion covers only UKGC-licensed sites. Nothing on this page is aimed at UK residents.

Frequently asked questions

Is it illegal for Swedes to play at casinos without a Swedish licence?

No. Spellagen does not punish players. It is the operator offering unlicensed games to the Swedish market, and anyone commercially promoting them, who breaks the law.

Are winnings from casinos without a Swedish licence tax-free?

Not as a rule. Winnings from a casino licensed outside the EEA are taxed at 30 % of net winnings per operator and year. Winnings from an EEA-licensed casino are tax-free only if the game does not require a Swedish licence, meaning it is not directed at the Swedish market. Skatteverket makes that assessment.

How do I declare winnings from a foreign casino?

Work out total winnings minus total stakes for each operator over the calendar year and declare any positive result as capital income in box 7.2 of your tax return. Losses at one operator cannot be set against gains at another, and winnings of at most SEK 100 are tax-free.

Does Spelpaus block casinos without a Swedish licence?

No. Spelpaus only applies to operators licensed by Spelinspektionen. Anyone registered with Spelpaus should avoid unlicensed casinos and can get support from Stödlinjen on 020-81 91 00.

Does an MGA licence mean a casino can legally accept Swedes?

It means the casino is regulated in Malta, not in Sweden. Spelinspektionen banned the MGA-licensed Claymore Malta on 8 January 2026, which shows that an EU licence does not give a right to target Swedish players.

Can my bank block payments to a casino without a Swedish licence?

Yes. Payment service providers must reject card payments to gambling without the necessary licence, and Spelinspektionen can charge a sanction fee to a provider that fails to do so. Some banks also block gambling merchants by policy.

What is the gaming tax in Sweden?

Licensed operators pay 22 % of their gross gaming revenue to the state, up from 18 % before 1 July 2024. This tax falls on the operator, not on the player.

Who do I complain to if an offshore casino will not pay?

Start with the casino in writing, then follow the route for its licence: an approved ADR body for MGA casinos, a CGA-certified ADR body for Curaçao casinos, or the licence seal for Anjouan and Tobique casinos. Swedish authorities cannot recover money from an unlicensed operator.