Swedish Gambling Revenue Grows in Q3 2020
Published December 6, 2020 by Mike P
Q3 has been a time of growth for the Swedish gambling industry, with revenues increasing compared to Q2 2020 and Q3 2019.
In July 2020, the introduction of a SEK 5,000 deposit cap in the Swedish online casino market was met by staunch criticism from the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) and Branscheforenigen för Onlinespel (BOS), alongside other industry organisations. Despite the cap on deposits, this did not stop the Swedish online gambling industry from generating greater revenue.
After generating SEK 6.04 billion (€591.1 million) in revenue during Q3 2020, the Swedish gambling industry registered an increase of 2.0% from Q2, while the year-on-year growth represented a 1.3% rise. When analysing the revenue from online casinos and sports betting, the quarter-on-quarter growth was 2.1% and the year-on-year 5.8% to reach SEK 3.69 billion.
The state-run gambling monopoly, Svenska Spel, generated SEK 1.47 billion in Q3, which was a 14.0% increase from Q2 and 7.7% from Q3 2019. In Q3 2020, the operator earned SEK 1.18 billion from lotteries, SEK 490 million, and SEK 72 million from other channels. However, no revenue was taken from Casino Cosmopol, as all land-based venues were closed during the quarter.
Deposit Cap to Remain for Now
As it stands, the present cap on gambling deposits is intended to remain as a temporary measure until June 2021. Moving forward, however, the Swedish government shall enter into a consultation process to decide whether or not the deposit limit should be extended beyond June.
The Swedish gambling regulator, Spelinspektionen, has reservations over the cap, having described it as helping black market gambling and being impossible to enforce among operators. Despite voicing those concerns, Spelinspektionen is not opposed to an extension of the temporary cap in light of the present circumstances.
At present, Spelinspektionen cannot accurately quantify the value of unregulated gambling in Sweden. However, an estimated from H2 Gambling Capital suggests that unregulated gambling accounts for anywhere from SEK 627 million to SEK 740 million in the country, with only 5% of Swedes admitting to check if their operator has a licence.
