Swedish gambling revenue falls in 2023

Land-based casinos saw the biggest fall.

Sweden.- The Swedish gambling regulator Spelinspektionen has published preliminary data suggesting that gambling revenue in Sweden fell by 1.2 per cent last year. Revenue for 2023 came in at SEK 27.13bn (€2.42bn).

The biggest decline was at Svenska Spel’s land-based Casino Cosmopol casinos, where revenue fell 11.4 per cent. Svenska Spel has already announced plans to close two of its three casinos as a result. The state lottery and slots segment saw revenue fall by 3.6 per cent to SEK 5.60bn.

However, online gambling revenue also seems to have stagnated. It remains the largest segment, but revenue of SEK 17.03bn represents a drop of 0.7 per cent year-on-year following an increase of 6 per cent in 2022.

The positive news was in national lottery revenue (up 1.4 per cent at SEK 3.60bn), public games revenue climbed (up 9.3 per cent at SEK 199m) and land-based commercial gambling revenue (up 2.3% at SEK 225m).

Meanwhile, online gambling operators have voiced their opposition to the Ministry of Finance’s proposed ban on gambling with credit. 

Under the ministry’s proposal, gambling operators would not be allowed to process deposits or bets financed by any form of credit, including credit cards. However, the trade association BOS says the move would hand a competitive advantage to the unlicensed gaming market, which it says has 41 per cent market share in online casino at a time when gambling revenue is slowing.