Swedish Q1 GGR up 5.0% year-on-year

Of the total GGR, SEK3.94bn was brought in by commercial online gambling operators, up 7.4%. A further SEK1.40bn came in through the country’s state lottery and slot game operators, up 24.0%, and SEK858m was brought in through lottery games for public benefit purposes, down 0.3%.

State land-based casino games run by Svenska Spel’s Casino Cosmopol arm have brought in no revenue since closing due to the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic in March 2020, compared to GGR of SEK196m in Q1 2020. Bingo games for public benefit purposes brought in SEK44m during the quarter, compared to SEK52m in the same period last year.

Land-based commercial gaming from ‘restaurant casinos’ brought in just SEK6m, compared to SEK52m in Q1 2020.

Comparing the figures to Q4 2020, overall GGR was down 8.0% from SEK6.79bn. By vertical, commercial online gaming and betting was down 6.0%, state lottery and slot game operators were down 9.3%, and lottery games for public benefit purposes were down 12.6%.

Bingo games for public benefit purposes remained stable quarter-on-quarter at SEK44m, while land-based commercial gaming including ‘restaurant casinos’ was down 81.3% from SEK32m to SEK6m.

Spelinspektionen said that at the end of the first quarter, almost 63,000 people had suspended their gambling activities using the country’s Spelpaus.se self-exclusion register, an increase of over 6.0% on the previous quarter.

As of May 2021, 101 companies had active licences in the Swedish market, 71 of which were companies licensed for betting and/or commercial gaming online.