Swedish gambling declines in first half 2014

Sweden’s restrictive gambling regulatory regime continues to hobble the industry in the Nordic nation, with Lotteriinspektionen – Sweden’s gambling and lottery authority – reporting this week that in the first half of 2014 revenues declined by 3 percent compared to H1-2013.

Only sports betting showed positive results, with all other verticals delivering at best a muted performance.

Lotteriinspektionen reported that the market had been “sluggish”, with regulated operators logging gross turnover of SEK19.3 billion, and gaming revenues shrinking by 11 percent y-o-y to SEK7.8 billion.

The regulator’s report echoes complaints from state gambling monopoly Svenska Spel, which earlier this month posted a 6.2 percent dip in profits and a decline in net gaming revenues to SEK 2.29 billion in Q1-2014, noting that it intended to apply to the regulator for permission to operate an online casino to bolster its results (see previous report).

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