S-lotteriet KASTAS UT från branschorganisation

On Wednesday, the industry organization that organizes ethical telemarketing announced that the Social Democratic Party’s fully owned lottery company, Kombispel, is being excluded with immediate effect. This comes after a long series of revelations about aggressive sales methods targeting confused elderly individuals.

It is in a press release from Kontakta, an industry and interest organization for companies working with customer service and telemarketing, that it is stated that the Social Democratic Party’s sales operations do not align with their terms and values.

The background to the decision is the scandals that have been revealed in recent years. Last week, it was time again. Aggressive sales methods, which closely resemble fraudulent methods, as well as several gang criminal individuals who have worked at the call center.

Criticism of the Social Democratic Party’s lottery sales often focuses on the methods where telemarketers target lists of potential customers, which have often been confused elderly individuals. Last week, a secret script used by telemarketers to deceive the elderly into buying the party’s lottery tickets was revealed.

The elderly were promised that winning was almost guaranteed if they bought lottery tickets. They were told they could share the winnings with their grandchildren to make them happy. If an elderly person claimed not to afford it, they were told that they could pay later with future winnings.

Ongoing subscriptions where the elderly are forced to buy lottery tickets month after month, which they have to cancel themselves, were sold with lies that it was only a one-time purchase. This and more are revealed in a secret sales script approved by the Social Democratic Party through Kombilotteriet.

The salespeople had scripts for all different scenarios that could arise on the phone when they worked through the Social Democratic Party’s phone lists.

A 23-year-old who worked at the call center told DN last week about how they are supposed to pressure the elderly to either buy the lottery tickets or hang up themselves.

– We are not allowed to hang up, instead, you should push, push, push until the customer buys or hangs up, said the 23-year-old.

The Social Democrats have been well aware of the working methods but have allowed the operations to continue. This is because the operations bring in tens of millions of kronor to the party each year – giving them a financial advantage over other parties.

On Wednesday, the industry organization Kontakta announced that the working methods of the S-lottery are not in line with their values and therefore Kombispel is excluded with immediate effect. It is stated in the press release that Kontakta sees “major shortcomings” in the Social Democratic Party’s sales methods of lotteries.

“Kontakta can now ascertain that Kombispel, with its sale of party political lotteries, once again causes serious customer complaints, something that goes against Kontakta’s membership conditions and values. Kontakta’s board has therefore decided to immediately exclude Kombispel from membership in the Association Kontakta Sweden.”, it is stated in the press release.

S-top: “Tired of gambling advertising”

Meanwhile, a video clip from 2019 has gained new life on social media. It is the Social Democratic Party’s legal policy spokesperson Ardalan Shekarabi who, in 2019, was Sweden’s Minister for Public Administration and then took a hard line against gambling companies pressuring Swedes to start gambling.

– I’m tired of the aggressive marketing. You can’t watch TV anymore without seeing gambling, said Shekarabi and called for “moderate marketing”.