Swedish Q3 Gambling Revenue Drops Almost 5%

Gambling revenue in Sweden was up by nearly 5% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2021, according to the Swedish Gambling Inspectorate, with licensed operators reporting a total of SEK6.3 billion ($701 million) in revenue.

Although the figure is up 4.7% year-on-year, the country actually saw its gambling revenue fall slightly from Q2 2021, dropping 2.9% from SEK6.52 billion.

The latest figures are in keeping with the downward trend that Sweden has seen since gambling revenue climbed to a high of almost SEK6.8 billion in Q4 2020. It was hoped that Q2 2021 represented a change of direction, and the industry will be disappointed with the latest figures to be published.

However, it was not all bad news. The reopening of land casinos had a noticeable effect, even if it wasn’t enough to offset the declines in other segments. The state-owned Svenska Spel reopened its three properties, Casino Cosmopol, for the first time in more than a year and posted revenue of SEK132 million.

There was also a small recovery in land-based commercial gaming as the coronavirus pandemic restrictions were lifted, with revenue growing from SEK8 million in Q2 to SEK47 million in Q3. However, the vast majority of the revenue from the quarter came from commercial online gaming and betting. The segment brought in more than 60% of Q3’s total revenues at SEK3.9 billion, even if it was down 5% from Q2.

The state-run lottery and slots came in second place. They reported close to SEK1.4 billion in revenue, far behind the online segment, and charitable lotteries, known as “games for public benefit purposes,” brought in a total of SEK803 million.

Together with the quarterly revenue figures, the Inspectorate also announced that by the end of Q3, 65,000 people had made use of its self-exclusion service Spelpaus.se, an increase of more than 2% when compared with Q2.

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