Swedish gaming revenue up 5% in 2021

Revenue rose to SEK26bn despite Sweden’s online casino deposit limit.

Sweden.- Gaming revenue in Sweden rose 5 per cent to SEK26bn (€2.41bn) in 2021. According to the annual report from the gaming regulator Spelinspektionen, online gambling revenue rose by 6 per cent. That’s despite a SEK5,000 monthly deposit limit being in force until November.

State lottery and slot machine sales from Svenska Spel also climbed by 6 per cent. No details were provided for land-based casino revenue, be it Svenska Spel’s Casino Cosmopol brand or restaurant casinos. Both were impacted heavily by the Covid-19 pandemic with venues closed for most of the year.

Spelinspektionen received SEK53.1m from control, supervision and gambling levies, up 0.8 per cent year-on-year. However, its costs rocketed by 39.1 per cent to SEK43.4m.

It reported that it handled 622 licence applications in 2021, up from 518 in 2020. It accepted 287 and rejected eight (many decisions carried over into this year). That took the total number of live licences to 2,252.

Spelinspektionen received SEK7.3m in application fees, but the cost of processing the applications was SEK21.5m. However, the regulator also received SEK13.7m in penalty fees, up 25.7 per cent. That took total revenue to SEK74.2m, up 0.9 per cent.

The regulator said it issued eight injunctions against unlicensed operators that were targeting Swedish players. Seven previous injunctions were revoked after operators ceased targeting the country. That left 24 in place at year end.

The Swedish government has dropped plans to reimpose an online casino deposit limit.

Meanwhile, Sweden’s Supreme Administrative Court has agreed to hear an appeal on a sanction imposed on an online gambling operator by Spelinspektionen. The regulator appealed to the court after lower courts reduced the size of a fine it issued against Genesis Global in 2019 for self-exclusion violations.