ATG reports growth despite impact of spending limits

The Swedish operator has reported a 18.3 per cent rise in revenue for Q3.

Sweden.- AB Trav och Galopp (ATG) has posted year-on-year growth in revenue of 18.3 per cent to SEK1.38bn (€133.3m) for the third quarter.

The growth in net revenue comes despite the impact of Sweden’s new online casino spending limits on that side of its business.

Most of the growth came from the operator’s core horse racing betting operations and other sports betting.

Horse racing betting revenue rose 17 per cent against the same quarter last year to reach SEK1.19bn, making up 88 per cent of all revenue.

Sports betting revenue rose 59 per cent to SEK113m while casino revenue fell 6 per cent to SEK78m.

The imposition of the temporary SEK5,000 weekly deposit cap caused its Swedish casino revenue to fall to SEK58m.

The drop was mitigated in part by a larger casino contribution from the Danish subsidiary Ecosys.

Chief financial officer, Lotta Nilsson Viitala, said: “During the third quarter, we saw a clear slowdown in casino gambling in Sweden.

“This is a consequence of the temporary regulation, which means our casino customers must set a mandatory deposit limit per week.”

Total revenue for the period amounted to €1.60bn, up 15.2% on 2019.

Operating profit was up by 37.6 per cent at SEK618m. Profit before tax was up 38.7 per cent to SEK624m.

Net gaming revenue in the nine months up to the end of September was up 20.3 per cent to SEK3.92bn.