Svenska Spel steps up monitoring of risky gambling behaviour

The Swedish operator says it has increased monitoring due to the current cost-of-living crisis.

Sweden.- The state-controlled gambling operator Svenska Spel has pledged to increase its monitoring of ‘at-risk behaviours’ due to the current cost-of-living crisis. It stressed that figures suggest a decrease in gambling among at-risk customers in January and February but recognised the financial challenges being faced by the population.

Kajsa Nylander, head of sustainability at Svenska Spel, suggested that the absence of any impact on problem gambling so far this year is a result of the safer gambling measures the operator has put in place over the past two years. These include compulsory income reviews for customers who want to set a monthly spending limit higher than SEK100,000 per month (€9,000), or higher than SEK1,000 for those aged 18 and 19.

Other measures introduced include compulsory 10-minute breaks on Vegas slot machines and the launch of the rebranded gambling harm prevention tool, Min-Spelkoll. Svenska Spel says it will now make more game check calls when risky gambling behaviour is observed in new customers.

On these calls, Svenska Spel stresses that customers should set sensible limits and aims to educate customers about the risks associated with gaming. Nylander said these calls had helped identify problem gambling behaviours in people who were in difficulties due to the cost-of-living crisis. 

The Swedish gambling regulator, Spelinspektionen, has reported that operators generated SEK27.4bn in revenue in 2022. That’s a rise of 5 per cent year-on-year. Online gaming revenue was responsible for the growth, rising 6 per cent to SEK1.7bn. State lottery and slot machine revenue remained steady at SEK5.8bn.

Svenska Spel has reported full-year 2022 revenue of SEK8bn (€722m), a drop of 1 per cent year-on-year. However, with underlining profits of SEK1.99bn, the operator will still match its 2021 state dividend of SEK2bn (€155m).