Marginal rise in H1-2015 Swedish online gambling revenues

Sweden’s gambling regulator Lotteriinspektionen released Q2-2015 and H1-2015 market statistics this week, reporting overall market NGR in the half-year of SEK 9.92 billion…but around 20 percent of it going to unlicensed offshore operators.

In H1-2015 terms, licensed operators in land and online enterprises generated GGR of SEK 7.9 billion, achieving a small 0.03 percent year-on-year increase. But unlicensed offshore operators took 5 percent more of the available business, around SEK 2 billion.

Online operations were more positive for local monopoly Svenska Spel, rising 9 percent year-on-year in H1 to SEK 819 million as land revenue sank 5 percent to SEK 3.5 billion. Overall Svenska Spel H1 revenues dipped 2 percent to SEK 4.3 billion.

In the horse racing sector a similar online success story unfolded, with online revenues at ATG rising 13 percent year-on-year to boost overall revenues 4 percent to SEK 1.8 billion.

Lottery business showed little progress at SEK 1.1 billion.

Despite the continuing rise in revenues generated by offshore and unlicensed operators, the regulator appears confident that its warnings regarding illegal operator marketing have had an impact, claiming that gambling advertising by legal and illegal operators in Sweden has fallen by SEK 140 million to SEK 1.5 billion.

Lotteriinspektionen has appointed a new COO in Camila Rosenberg, a civil servant with senior experience in the Energy and Finance ministries.