Swedish gaming regulator Spelinspektionen reported that Swedish licensed gaming companies recorded a combined turnover of SEK 6.6 billion (€569 million) in the first quarter of 2023 (players’ bets minus winnings paid). The preliminary number remains in line with the turnover in the same quarter of last year.
Online casino gaming generated the majority of revenue at SEK 4.1 billion, slightly down from the first quarter of 2022. State lottery and slot machine games generated SEK 1.36 billion, up from SEK 1.29 billion. State casino gaming via Casino Cosmopol generated SEK 126 million, up 22% from Q1 2022.
Other retail gaming operators such as resort casinos generated SEK 27 million, while public purpose gaming generated SEK 812 million and community gaming and bingo SEK 38 million.
At the end of Q1, just under 92,000 people were banned from gambling via the exclusion platform Spelpaus.se. This represents an 8% increase over the previous quarter.
New powers confirmed for regulator Spelinspektionen
Sweden’s legislature has approved new powers for Spelinspektionen. An update to the country’s Gaming Law will strengthen the regulator’s ability to monitor and intervene against unlicensed online gaming operators.
One of the new measures, which will come into effect on July 1, will allow Spelinspektionen to make trial purchases of gambling services using a hidden identity to monitor the activities of operators targeting Swedish gamblers.
The government said such covert monitoring was necessary for effective surveillance. Operators must be notified of test purchases as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Spelinspektionen will have new payment blocking powers that are designed to replace those in the previous version of Swedish gaming legislation. The regulator already had powers to block payments to unlicensed gaming operators, but said that practical difficulties with the existing regulation made it impossible.
