How have brands and marketers reacted to Sweden’s igaming credit card ban?

On May 1st 2026, Sweden introduced a ban on the use of credit cards for igaming transactions. Brands and marketers were given more than six months by the regulator, Spelinspektionen, to remove promotional content related to using credit cards for igaming transactions. Weeks after the ban came into force, search results reveal that there is still a significant volume of igaming related content featuring credit cards as a payment option.

Rightlander, a leading regtech solution specialising in marketing compliance and monitoring online content, conducted research into the presence of credit card references in igaming campaigns targeting Swedish audiences. 

Data was gathered from searches using highly targeted keywords with high search volumes in Google.se. Up to 100 results per keyword were analysed to increase the scope of the research.  

The findings revealed that despite the advanced notice and the threat of regulatory penalties and reputational harm, approximately 40% of websites analysed had not updated their content to meet the new regulations. 

Various text and images, including credit card logos, were found across third-party comparison and informational sites, as well as licensed and unlicensed brand sites.  

The study also indicated that some URLs may be 'actively targeting' keywords related to igaming activity with credit cards. This was evident from the number of keywords identified in the study and their respective estimated monthly search in Sweden. 

See table below:

Phrases referencing credit cards as an igaming payment method option

Rightlander identified the most frequently used phrases found in meta titles and descriptions of websites and analysed how many times they appeared across the site.

For one phrase 'casino med kreditkort', the study revealed 34 separate instances of the same keyword being used on multiple web pages. The table below provides insight into the most frequently used phrases referencing credit cards within the pages along with the sites' respective ranking.

Unlicensed brands seizing the opportunity

From the data analysed, Rightlander found 19 web pages that were marketing casinos without a valid Swedish gambling license. These could have been were indexed in the Google SERP’s before the ban came into effect, nonetheless, they were identified in the study and are visible to Swedish audiences.

Conclusions

Despite Spelinspektionen’s best efforts to pre-warn brands and their marketing partners of the credit card ban and removal of associated content, there exists a significant volume of online content visibly accessible to users through search engines that continues to reference this banned payment option. 

It is inevitable that not all websites would have been updated in time for the ban. However, the extent of content appearing to promote credit card gambling remains significant. Time will tell if the universal ban will be successfully implemented.