SVENSKE SPEL BILLIONS

22 February 2008

Swedish state-owned gambling monopoly enjoyed a 9 percent rise in revenues


The Swedish state-owned gambling monopoly Svenske Spel illustrated the lucrative nature of its strangle hold on the country's gambling market this week when it released its latest financial results.

Revenues for the full-year 2007 rose 9 percent to SEK 5.25 billion, with online poker and telephone-betting revenues up 38 percent to SEK 1.18 billion.

The Svenska Spel monopoly makes it the largest gaming company in Sweden with a market share of 55 percent and an annual turnover in 2006 of SEK 20,2 billion. The profits for 2006 amounted to SEK 4,7 billion of which around 1,1 billion goes to non-governmental and sports organisations for children and youth development.

The Swedes are currently on EU Compliance Commissioner Charlie McCreevy's radar screen due to the exclusion from the Swedish market of gambling companies from other European Union nations in defiance of EU principles on the free movement of trade and services between members.

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