Sweden sees quarterly decline in gambling revenue despite year-on-year increase
Sweden’s gambling revenue increased by nearly 5% in the third quarter of 2021, with licensed gaming companies reporting SEK 6.3bn ($701m) in revenue, according to the Swedish Gaming Inspectorate.
While this is up 4.7% year-on-year, the Scandinavian country’s gambling revenue experienced a slight decline from Q2, dropping by 2.9% from SEK 6.52bn.
This continues a downward trend that has dogged the nation since revenue jumped to nearly SEK 6.8bn in the fourth quarter of 2020. Q2 appeared to mark a slight turnaround only for gambling revenue to drop once again in the latest reporting period.
However, the reopening of land-based casinos was noticeable, despite not being enough to offset declines felt by other segments. Casino Cosmopol, the brick-and-mortar brand of the state-owned Svenska Spel, saw its three properties reopen for the first time in over a year to post SEK 132m.
Land-based commercial gaming also experienced a modest comeback as Covid restrictions were eased, with revenue climbing from SEK 8m in Q2 to SEK 47m for the third quarter. But responsibility for the lion’s share of revenue fell on commercial online gaming and betting. This segment, while down by 5% from the second quarter, amounted to more than 60% of Q3’s total revenue, at SEK 3.9bn.
State lottery and slots trailed behind, reporting nearly SEK 1.4bn in revenue for a distant second place, while charitable lotteries, or “games for public benefit purposes”, brought in SEK 803m to take third.
Alongside quarterly revenue, the Inspectorate also revealed that 65,000 people were suspended from gambling at the end of the third quarter via its self-exclusion service ‘Spelpaus.se’. This is an over 2% increase when compared with Q2.
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