Swedish Regulated Gaming Market Doesn’t Mark Growth in 2020

According to recent data by the Swedish gambling authority, in 2020, licensed gambling operators generated net sales of SEK24.7 billion. This result marks a decrease of 0.4% when compared to the figures for 2019.  

Spelinspektionen Reveals Data for Net Sales of Licensed Operators in 2020

In 2020, licensed gambling operators in Sweden generated net sales of SEK24.7 billion ($2.9 billion). This result is based on data released today by the Swedish Gambling regulator, Spelinspektionen. Comparing the 2020 result to 2019 we observe a small decrease of 0.4%.

Focusing on revenue per gaming activity type, we see that the bigger cut of the revenue was raised by licensed online gambling. In 2020, online casinos in Sweden raised SEK15.2 billion ($1.8 billion). Next in line with SEK5.5 billion was the state lottery and slot games.

Furthermore, another SEK 3.6 billion was raised by games for public benefit purposes and national lotteries. The remaining activities such as state casino games, bingo, and land-based commercial gaming raised cumulatively SEK544million. In its announcement, Spelinspektionen added that the information is preliminary.

Unlicensed Operators Continue to Generate Revenue from Sweden

Spelinspektionen revealed that until the beginning of March 2021, there are 100 companies with active licenses in Sweden. Out of that total, 70 companies currently hold a license for betting and/or commercial online gambling.

The authority could not determine how many players are using gambling companies that do not have a license in Sweden. However, in today’s announcement, Spelinspektionen included data based on an estimate by the British analysis company H2 Gambling Capital.

According to that estimate, during the fourth quarter of 2020, approximately SEK613 million to SEK724 million were raised by companies outside of the license system in Sweden. Focusing on the bigger picture, according to H2 Gambling Capital, approximately SEK 2.4 – 2.8 billion was generated by gambling operators outside Sweden in 2020.

Last but not least, Spelinspektionen revealed the number of people who self-excluded from gambling by using Spelpaus.se. Until the end of Q4 2020, that number hit 59,000 people. In contrast, for the year until the beginning of this month, that number increased to almost 61,000 people. This represents an increase of 6%.