The closure of Casino Cosmopol venues contributed to a quaterly drop in revenue.

Sweden.- The national gambling regulator Spelinspektionen has reported that Swedish gambling revenue came in at SEK6.61bn ($609m) in Q1. That’s a drop of 0.9 per cent year-on-year and 13 per cent from the record last quarter of 2024, partly due to land-based casino closures.

Commercial online gambling and betting, the biggest revenue driver, was largely stable year-on-year. The sector generated SEK 4.28bn, down just 0.2 per cent year-on-year but down 7.4 per cent quarter-on-quarter. Svenska Spel’s state-controlled lottery and gaming machines businesses brought in SEK1.3bn, down 3 per cent.

However, Svenska Spel’s last Casino Cosmopol land-based casino generated just SEK26m in its last full quarter in operation. The figure was down by 60 per cent compared to the first quarter of 2024 owing to the closure of Casino Cosmopol’s venues in Gothenburg and Malmö in February 2024. The remaining Stockholm casino closed last month, bringing an end to land-based casino gambling in Sweden. Casino Cosmopol revenue was down by 16.1 per cent sequentially, indicative of its continuing decline following the Covid-19 pandemic and the rising popularity of online gambling.

Meanwhile, the revenue generated by gambling for public benefit purposes, including charity lotteries and bingo, totalled SEK 935m, with SEK 886m from charity lotteries. This was up by 3.5 per cent year-on-year but down 21 per cent from Q4 2024. Bingo hall revenue held firm at SEK 49m.

Spelinspektionen also reported that registrations for the self-exclusion service Spelpaus.se had reached nearly 125,000 by the end of the quarter, a rise of 3.5 per cent from the end of Q4 2024.

In April, Spelinspektionen published the results of a survey that raised concerns about the public’s ability to identify regulated gambling products from unlicensed offerings. Carried out by Enkätfabriken in November 2024, the research found that 72 per cent of respondents were unable to distinguish between licensed and unlicensed products. Moreover, only 42 per cent said they believed that a local licence was an important factor to consider when choosing a gambling operator. The figures were released as the government embarks on a review of the Swedish Gambling Act.

Operator results 

The two major state-linked gambling operators Svenska Spel and ATG both reported downturns in their financial results for the first quarter. The horseracing betting operator AB Trav och Galopp (ATG) reported that net gaming revenue across horse racing, sports betting and online casino operations in Sweden and Denmark totalled SEK 1.2bn (€109.9m), a drop of 8 per cent year-on-year. Revenue from its core horseracing segment fell by 10 per cent.

There was a slight increase in customers across all sectors, reaching 1.4 million, but customers wagered less per week. Casino revenue was down by 13 per cent, while sports betting revenue rose by 14 per cent.

Meanwhile state-controlled Svenska Spel reported a 4 per cent drop in net gaming revenue to SEK 1.88bn (€171.7m) amid the closure of two out of its three Casino Cosmopol land-based casinos in February of last year. Lottery revenue fell by 1 per cent year-on-year to SEK 1.2m while sports betting and casino revenue were up slightly at SEK 551m.

For full-year 2024, Swedish gambling revenue rose by 2.65 per cent year-on-year to SEK27.85bn (€2.49bn). Online gambling revenue, including online casino and sports betting, rose by 5 per cent year-on-year to SEK17.84bn. State lottery revenue climbed 2.2 per cent to SEK5.72bn, while non-profit games and lotteries revenue rose by 2.6 per cent to SEK3.70bn.

Land-based commercial gaming, which includes restaurant casinos, rose by 4 per cent to SEK237m, but revenue from community games and bingo halls was down by 3.5 per cent at SEK196m. Unsurprisingly, revenue from land-based casinos fell significantly following the closure of two of Svenska Spel’s three Casino Cosmopol venues.