Sweden Release 2017 Gambling Stats

By Brian Cullingworth, Last updated Apr 27, 2018

Unlicensed operators take lion’s share of gross gaming revenues

Sweden’s Gambling Authority, Lotteriinspektionen, published its 2017 gambling statistics report Wednesday revealing a relatively flat market in terms of licensed operators with marginal growth driven by online gambling.

Key figures from licensed operators include:

• Total stakes of SEK 48 billion (2016: 47 billion).
• Gross gaming revenue (GGR) of SEK 17.2 billion (2016: SEK 17.1 billion).
• The authority splits out stakes and GGR spend to ‘per inhabitant’ and ‘per inhabitant over 18 years of age’.
• Total stakes per ‘inhabitant’ was SEK 4,757 (2016: SEK 4,705) and total GGR was SEK 1,704 (2016: 1,717).
• Total stakes per ‘inhabitant over 18 years of age’ was SEK 6,005 (2016: 5,938) and GGR was SEK 2,151 (2016: 2,167).
• Percentage of disposable income spent in terms of stakes was 2.18 percent (2016: 2.21) and in terms of GGR was 0.78 percent (2016: 0.81 percent).

The authority estimates foreign, unlicensed operators increased gross gaming revenues by 14.7 percent scoring SEK 5,5 billion (2016: 4.8 billion) from the Swedish market in 2017 with Total per ‘inhabitant’ in terms of GGR amounting to SEK 548 (2016: SEK 484) and percentage of disposable income in terms of GGR of 0.25 percent (2016: 0.23 percent).

Svenska Spel leads the pack in terms of gross gaming revenue, followed by ATG and Casino Cosmopol which amounted to SEK 21.4 billion (2016: SEK 20.4 billion), SEK 13.7 billion (2016: SEK 13.3 billion) and SEK 5.6 billion (2016: SEK 5.8 billion) respectively.

In total, Sweden’s regulated market is currently worth SEK 48 billion (2016: SEK 47 billion) in terms of gross gaming revenues before pay out of winnings and SEK 17.2 billion (2016: SEK 17.1 billion) after payment of winnings, a meagre 0.4 percent increase.

In terms of regulated market share, Svenska Spel holds 45.6 percent, followed by ATG with 24.1 percent.

Including unlicensed operators, Svenska Spel holds 34.5 percent and ATG 24.3 percent. Unlicensed operators are estimated to enjoy a 24.3 percent share of the local market.

Small growth in the market is attributed to online gambling. Accumulated online gambling gross gaming revenues amounted to SEK 10.3 billion, up 11.4 percent on 2016.

Gross gaming revenues from licensed online gambling operators amounted to SEK 4.8 billion in 2017, up 14.9 percent.

Estimated GGR from unlicensed operators is estimated to have reached SEK 5.5 billion, up 14.7 percent on 2016 driven by betting which the authority says account for 42 percent of revenue, online casino account for 40 percent, poker – 7 percent and the remaining 11 percent – other products.

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