Svenska Spel confirms date for Casino Cosmopol closures
Two of the operator’s three land-based casinos will close this month.
Sweden.- The state-controlled gambling group Svenska Spel has announced that it will go ahead with plans to close two of its three land-based casinos. The Casino Cosmopol venues in Gothenburg and Malmö will close on Saturday February 24, leaving only the flagship Casino Cosmopol in Stockholm.
Svenska Spel said it had completed negotiations with trade unions about the move, which it said was necessary because the venues were no longer profitable. The operator conducted a strategic review of its land-based gambling offerings last year after revenue failed to recovered to pre-pandemic levels.
The company noted that the Gothenburg and Malmö venues had made a loss since 2020. Measures such as a change in opening hours, a new restaurant concept and reductions in staff were deemed to have had insufficient impact to justify keeping the venues running.
“Despite a series of measures aimed at increasing revenue and reducing costs, the losses have continued,” the operator said.
It’s reported that the closures will affect around 100 staff in Gothenburg and 80 in Malmö, slightly less than the 200 redundancies initially expected.
Casino Cosmopol CEO Ola Enquist said: “For over 20 years, Cosmopol has offered the people of Gothenburg and Malmö an international casino experience, which is now unfortunately coming to an end. Until we close, my colleagues and I hope that our guests will visit us one last time so that we can have a nice finale for the casinos.”
Svenska Spel results
Svenska Spel reported revenue of SEK8.03bn (€712.1m) for 2023. The figure represents a slight drop from 2022 but is better than had been feared. Online revenue was up 7.2 per cent to SEK4.20bn but retail revenue fell 5 per cent, restaurant and bingo hall revenue fell 12.7% and casino revenue dropped 11.4 per cent.
The lottery division, Tur, saw a 0.6 per cent rise in revenue to SEK4.92bn, boosted by Eurojackpot sales. Sport and casino revenue rose 4.6% to SEK2.17bn on the back of pool betting and online casino performance and the take up of poker after the launch of a new platform.
The land-based gaming brands Casino Cosmopol and Vegas saw revenue fall 12 per cent year-on-year to SEK942m. Svenska Spel said the number of casino visitors had fallen due to the increase in online gaming. Group net profit was down 2.7 per cent at SEK1.94bn.
