By Rocco Havel | May 6, 2008

Swedish gaming monopoly Svenska Spel is lashing out legally after months of suffering from its own legal woes. Responding to advertisements for the international gaming company, Ladbrokes, which make use of the Swedish words “Svenska spel” (Swedish Games) the company Svenska Spel has issued a direct warning to Ladbrokes – withdraw the campaign or face serious litigation.

The campaign itself features the slogan, “Svenska Spel, Engelska Odds” which translates to “Swedish Games, English Odds.” This comes as an open attack on the Swedish gaming monopoly’s State-sponsored cornering of the Swedish gaming market and the questionable odds found in Svenska Spel’s games.

Lasse Dilschmann, CEO of Ladbrokes Scandinavia reported to a prominent gaming news organization that, “A law suit is a dream prize for us and we like our odds.”

The gaming executive went on to say:

For a long time, Svenska Spel has insulted its consumers through an illegal economic monopoly and bad odds. To now try and monopolise the Swedish language is even more disappointing.Svenska Spel should be ashamed.
 
It is easy to understand why Svenska Spel wants to control the language. When you speak out clearly, it is obvious how bad their offering is. For a state-owned monopoly company I suppose it is natural to try and threaten its competitors into silence.

Svenska Spel maintains that the issue is not only the language employed in the ad campaign, but the typeface that it is written in. Andreas Jansson, an executive of Svenska Spel claims, “Ladbrokes is using our typeface and our company name in a commercial advertising inappropriate gambling. If they do not stop, we will take this to court."

This action comes on the heels of CEO Jesper Kärrbrink’s abrupt resignation and the growing threat of legal action from European Union against the legalized monopoly.

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