Hasse Lord Skarplöth steps down as ATG CEO amid financial challenges
The Swedish horseracing betting operator saw a decline in revenue and profit in Q4.
Sweden.- The Swedish horseracing betting operator AB Trav och Galopp (ATG) has announced that CEO Hasse Lord Skarplöth is leaving the company after more than 13 years as CEO. ATG chair Peter Norman has been named as interim CEO. Meanwhile, chief financial officer Lotta Nilsson has been appointed deputy CEO.
The news was announced as the operator reported full-year results confirming a drop in revenue and profit. ATG reported that Q4 net gaming revenue dropped 2.2 per cent year-on-year to SEK5.25bn (€479m), while overall revenue fell 3.6 per cent to SEK5.97bn.
Revenue was down across all three of ATG’s main divisions. Horse racing betting revenue fell 1 per cent to SEK3.84bn, while sports betting revenue was down 2 per cent to SEK764m and online casino by 7 per cent at SEK639m.
Digital channels generated SEK4.80bn, while retail stores contributed SEK448m.
Operating profit fell 14.8 per cent to SEK1.54bn, impacted by a rise in Swedish gambling tax that Skarplöth has repeatedly criticised. Pre-tax profit dropped 16 per cent to SEK1.57bn, while net profit after tax declined 16.4 per cent to SEK1.24bn.
Norman and Nilsson stressed that horse racing, the core of the operator’s mission, showed stability although it still slipped slightly.
They added: “We ended 2025 on a stable financial footing, a renewed offering and a clear direction forward. And the ambition remains unchanged: to strengthen our long-term competitiveness and continue to take responsibility for being a strong and stable engine for Swedish trotting and galloping sport.”
Amid the slowdown in its native Sweden, ATG is preparing to enter Finland’s regulated online gambling market, which is due to launch in 2027. In April 2025, it announced a joint venture with the Finnish trotting association Suomen Hippos. Hippos ATG, will run on ATG’s proprietary platform under the ATG brand.
ATG estimated Sweden’s online gambling channelisation rate to be 74 to 85 per cent in Q3 2025, well short of the government’s 90 per cent target. Skarplöth had proposed that Sweden should follow the approach taken by the UK and grant horseracing betting an exemption from higher tax rates charged on other gambling products.
