The Swedish National Gambling Consultation has been accused of taking a "protectionist and anti-competitive" stance after it published a proposal recommending that state-owned Svenska Spel retains its monopoly over online interactive games, such as poker and bingo.

John O’Reilly, managing director of remote betting and gaming at Ladbrokes, described the paper as a "last-ditch attempt" to avoid referral of the country’s betting and gaming laws to the European Court of Justice.

"None of the EU principles of proportionality or free and fair competition across border have been taken into account in this paper - it is more monopoly, not less," he commented. "The impact will be to protect government revenues, penalise competitors and ensure a negative effect on the consumer.

"All operators like Ladbrokes ask is the ability to compete on a level playing field. We see no reason why Ladbrokes cannot abide by Swedish regulations as well as any monopoly operator - that’s what a licensing and regulatory system should be there to ensure."