Better Performance and Security on Spelpaus.se

“If Spelpaus.se becomes unavailable, all gambling that requires registration in Sweden would stop. Gambling companies are not allowed to let a person participate in gambling or register a gambling account if a check cannot be performed against Spelpaus.se. Companies must also perform the same check before, for instance, sending out email campaigns, as marketing to a person who is excluded from gambling is prohibited. Therefore, it is incredibly important that Spelpaus.se is always available and can respond to all requests. Precio Fishbone has helped us build a new system with higher performance,” says Kristina Antman, System Manager at the Swedish Gambling Authority.

Seamless Transition to a New Platform

The Swedish Gambling Authority is the regulatory body that, supported by, among other things, the Gambling Act (2018:1138), ensures that lotteries, casino games, and other gambling activities in Sweden are conducted legally and safely. The authority monitors the interests of players and helps reduce the risks of social harm associated with gambling.

A crucial component of this work is the web service Spelpaus.se. The service is intended for individuals who wish to exclude themselves from registered gambling with companies licensed to offer gambling for money in Sweden. An exclusion applies to online gambling, betting shops, racetracks, as well as on Vegas slot machines and Casino Cosmopol. It is not possible to end an exclusion prematurely.

Spelpaus.se was launched in January 2019 when a new gambling law came into effect in Sweden. At the same time, the supervisory authority changed its name from the Lottery Inspectorate to the Swedish Gambling Authority.

As the service agreement for the original platform was set to expire in 2022, the authority decided to procure a new service with complementary functionality and management. Among other improvements, the administration and redundancy of the service were to be enhanced. Development work began in January 2022, and the new Spelpaus.se was launched overnight on May 31.

“The old solution worked but was not optimally built according to today’s requirements. In addition to a new website and admin portal, a new structure for redundancy has been created,” explains Jonas Engdahl, IT Strategist at the Swedish Gambling Authority, adding:

“The transition to the new platform was very smooth. Not a single request from the gambling companies was lost during the switch, which is impressive considering the service handles hundreds of requests every second!”

High Security and Availability

The performance requirements for the service are high and precisely defined. Spelpaus handles an average of 350-400 requests per second but is designed to handle up to 7,000 requests per second during peak loads. The Swedish Gambling Authority has also required that a request must not take more than 50 milliseconds to respond.

“High security and availability are essential for the system. In addition to strengthening redundancy, we have also improved performance and increased traceability in the system. It is now easier for us to track events within the system,” says Kristina.

An exclusion can be made for 1, 3, or 6 months, or indefinitely for at least 12 months. It is now also possible to extend an ongoing exclusion.

Administration and Follow-up

Spelpaus 2.0 runs on the CMS platform Umbraco, which provides the Swedish Gambling Authority with user-friendly administration and opportunities for follow-up and continuous improvements.

“The new admin portal makes it easy for us to edit content and maintain the website. The platform also offers good follow-up capabilities and standardized reports. For example, we can see how many new and completed exclusions have been made during the day. It’s also easy to retrieve and analyze log statistics today,” Jonas explains.