Managing Editor
Last Friday, Swedish police raided an underground poker club named Krukan in Stockholm. The outside poker world got wind of the raid through a post by the Swedish Poker Federation, which struck a critical tone about the tactics used by the authorities, which reportedly included guns drawn and drones overhead. Video footage of the raid also went viral on social media.
PokerScout contacted the SPF for more clarity on the situation and spoke with the Association’s Chairman, Mauritz Altikardes.
Part of the SPF’s objection to the raid is that participating in unlicensed gambling isn’t illegal in Sweden—only the organizers can be charged. However, the police approach was to treat everyone on the premises as a potential suspect. The post also describes a level of force that was likely traumatic for players on the scene. It says at least one player was injured, and many thought a robbery was taking place when police burst in with their weapons out.
Most players were detained on site for up to three hours and searched before being released and told they might have to testify as witnesses.
Criminalization of the Innocent
Altikardes also explained that the poker club’s location is such that many non-gamblers would also have witnessed the raid. He said it’s in a residential building that also hosts an aquarium store, a real estate agent, and a restaurant.
What we, the Federation, are reacting to is that grassroots players are being treated as hardened criminals.
The SPF’s position is that unregulated gambling is a problem and that it does not condone criminal activity. However, it says players are “in a bind” due to a lack of regulated options. It is technically possible to obtain a license to run certain types of poker tournaments in a limited way. However, the SPF describes the current regulations as cumbersome, expensive, and effectively impossible to comply with, leaving players without options outside the black market.
Altikardes said:
We are all for law enforcement cracking down on organised crime, of course, and we all would like to have licensed poker clubs to conduct our hobby but we have to few alternatives and the system to acquire a license and the license itself is not relevant.
In many places that commercial poker rooms are illegal, gray market workarounds are possible. For instance, many U.S. states prohibit raked poker but allow social clubs to host games. Such clubs often have membership fees or “seat rentals” to make the business viable.
No such options exist in Sweden, says Altikardes. Hosting a game without a license is illegal, period.
Nonetheless, a culture of tolerance toward the clubs has evolved over the years. Krukan operates only about 200 meters from the nearest police station. Altikardes told PokerScout that “all of these clubs are known by the police,” but that the police generally don’t mind as long as the scale of the operations stays within reason.
It’s not clear what provoked the raid, although police statements on the matter mention “large sums of money.”
Still, the raid would have come out of the blue for players who’d become habituated to the idea that poker was technically illegal but that the rules were rarely enforced.
As Altikardes put it:
In this case, the authorities knew exactly who they were after and what type of players that were in the poker club at that time. If they had walked in and said ‘Stop, this is the police,’ everyone would’ve complied. Instead, they came barging in, guns out, scaring the living hell of people who thought it was a mass shooting or a robbery.
Cumbersome Licensing Options
Altikardes emphasized that although licensing is theoretically an option, it’s so cumbersome in practice that there is only one licensed club in the entire country.
Commercial establishments can pay SEK 80,000 ($8,500) for a license, reduced to SEK 30,000 if they hold another type of gambling license — online operators, for instance. However, tournaments are limited to 48 players, a licensee can only run two per day (non-concurrently), and the maximum buy-in is less than 1,500 SEK ($160). Cash games aren’t an option, nor are any non-flop poker variants.
Those conditions make it near-impossible to run a profitable business. Private individuals can obtain a license for just SEK 25,000. However, they must also take on all administrative, civil, and criminal liability.
That personal risk is just as prohibitive as the commercial restrictions, says Altikardes.
Sweden is also in the process of winding down its retail casino industry. Online gambling remains legal but tightly regulated.
