Spelinspektionen, or the Swedish Gambling Authority (SGA), has reported a modest increase in net sales (players’ bets minus paid out winnings) for Sweden’s gambling sector, up 5% from 2020’s SEK 24.7bn, and even exceeding pre-pandemic levels.
Public health measures introduced in response to Covid-19 continued to impact the Scandinavian country’s gambling market in 2021, though restrictions were gradually eased, which had a noticeable impact on Sweden’s land-based sector.
While net sales from the country’s state-owned Casino Cosmopol properties, as well as land-based commercial gaming, remained below pre-Covid levels by over 71% and 47% respectively, overall, total net sales exceeded 2019’s amount by approximately 5%, when Sweden’s licensed gaming companies generated SEK 24.8bn.
This was helped by an almost SEK 1bn increase over 2020 from the country’s commercial online gaming and betting sector.
All-in-all, this area was responsible for more than SEK 16bn of 2021’s net sales, with both Q1 and Q3 breaking the SEK 4bn mark, a feat achieved only once in 2020 and never in 2019. The full year was also helped by a very strong fourth quarter, when net sales from all sectors surpassed SEK 7bn.
Approximately 95 companies had active licences in December 2021, added the SGA, with 65 of those companies certified for betting and/or commercial online gaming.
And at the end of the fourth quarter last year, roughly 70,000 people were suspended from gambling via Sweden’s self-exclusion register, Spelpaus.se, up 5% from Q3.
