The Spelinspektionen, Sweden’s gambling regulator, has published information about the Swedish gambling market’s performance in the second quarter of the year. The period saw the authority’s licensees collectively record a turnover of SEK 6.7 billion (around $602,000), which translates to a slight year-on-year decrease.
The reported preliminary figure represents a decrease of a little bit over 1% compared to Q2 2022. The Swedish market continues to be fairly stable, as attested by the overall trends.
The Spelinspektionen also published results about the individual performance of various gambling verticals. Commercial online gambling and sports betting, for example, was the primary contributor to the total turnover. The vertical earned almost SEK 4.2 million ($377,500) in Q3 2023. This number is nearly identical to the one recorded in Q1 2023 and slightly lower than the one recorded in Q2 2022.
The state lottery and slot games collectively earned SEK 1.4 million ($125,800). The figure represents a slight quarter-on-quarter increase and a small year-on-year decrease. The net turnover of Casino Cosmopol, meanwhile, was around SEK 126,000 ($11,300).
Games for general purposes and national lotteries, on the other hand, brought in SEK 896,000 ($80,500). Community games and hall bingo, meanwhile, recorded a turnover of SEK 48,000 ($4,300). Finally, land-based commercial gaming earned SEK 51,000 ($4,583).
The Spelinspektionen concluded that by the end of the second quarter of the year, around 95,000 people were excluded from gambling via Sweden’s exclusion program, Spelpaus.se. This number represents a 1.4% year-on-year increase, the regulator pointed out.
Spelinspektionen’s Work Came Under Review
Two weeks ago, the Swedish National Audit Office announced its intention to launch a probe into Spelinspektionen, evaluating the regulator’s work, actions, strategies and effectiveness in achieving the objectives set by the Swedish national gambling policy.
One of the main concerns in Sweden continues to be the low channelization rates. Experts say that only 77% of the gamblers in the country play with licensed operators. This means that almost a quarter of the Swedes prefer offshore companies, despite the numerous risks associated with the black market.
By probing the Spelinspektionen’s work, the Swedish National Audit Office hopes to find valuable insights and devise plans to make a change.
In other Sweden-related news, Svenska Spel, Sweden’s state-owned online casino operator, recently donated $377,000 to five studies researching gambling harm. The move reaffirmed the operator’s desire to mitigate harm and promote responsible gambling.