Gambling ads pay off to Swedish media

Online gambling advertising paid huge dividends to Swedish media outlets despite regulatory efforts to reduce the activity.

Sweden.- According to analysis issued by Sifo Advertising Measurements and Dagens Media, €560 million were spent on online gambling advertising during 2017. This expenditure was considerably up year-on-year from 2016’s €386 million and set a new market record.

Kindred Group set the tone with a total ad spend of €45 million, 12 per cent more than it spent in 2016 with its flagship brand, Unibet. It was followed by LeoVegas, which came in second after jumping 83 per cent year-on-year to €31.8 million.

“Swedish gambling is the wild west right now,” said Svenska Spel CEO, Lennart Käll, his comments following Swedish regulator Lotteriinspektionen’s unsuccessful efforts to clamp down unauthorised gambling advertising. The local body warned media outlets about gambling ads but had no effect on 2017’s performance, with media publishers labelling attempts to ban promotion as “a threat to Swedish democracy” and that it stops media outlets from being able to “conduct independent journalistic work” that serves the greater public.