State-owned operator Svenska Spel's plans for expanding its Net poker offering have been dashed by the Swedish government -- for now, at least.
Swedish daily The Local reports that the Swedish government today rejected Svenska's request to expand its existing license and asked the group to "devote more time to an internal, ongoing investigation into the existing license."
The paper did not specify as to the nature of the investigation, but did say that the government emphasized that Svenska "must consider the social effects of gambling, before profits."
The Local added that the government would not allow for the expansion of the license until the investigation's findings, due June 30, 2008, were submitted.
The group's third-quarter report, released late October, revealed profits of $215 million, with poker rake up 140 percent to $43.8 million.
In late October, at its annual conference, Sweden's ruling moderate party backed a proposal to abolish the country's gambling monopoly and open the market to competition via a licensing system.