Spelinspektionen: Swedish gambling turnover down slightly in 2023

Spelinspektionen has declared a slight year-over-year drop in Sweden’s gambling market turnover for the fourth quarter and across the full year of 2023, with state-owned casino games undergoing the biggest decrease.

Combining data with the Swedish Tax Agency, the gambling authority reported that gaming companies with a Swedish licence reported a 2023 turnover of SEK 27.1bn (€2.41bn), a 1.2 per cent decline in comparison to the previous year (2022: SEK 27.4bn).

Per vertical, Casino Cosmopol state-owned casino games saw the biggest turnover decrease over the year, falling by 11.4 per cent to SEK 475m (2022: SEK 536m). State-run lotteries and slot machines also dropped, falling 3.6 per cent to SEK 5.6bn (2022: SEK 5.8bn).

Commercial online gaming and betting turnover fell by 0.7 per cent to SEK 17bn (2022: SEK 17.1bn), games for public purposes and national lotteries stood at SEK 3.6bn (2022: SEK 3.5bn), community games and hall bingo was SEK 199m (2022: SEK 182m) and land-based commercial gaming came in at SEK 225m (2022: SEK 220m).

During Q4, Spelinspektionen noted that overall Swedish market turnover stood at SEK 7.1bn, down by 3.2 per cent when compared to the same period in 2022 (Q4 2022: 7.3bn).

Per vertical, commercial online gaming and betting turnover in the quarter improved to SEK 4.4bn (Q4 2022: SEK 4.39bn), state lotteries and slots declined to SEK 1.4 bn (Q4 2022: SEK 1.6bn) and Casino Cosmopol state-owned casino games fell to SEK 92m (Q4 2022: SEK 139m).

Games for public purposes and national lotteries rose slightly to SEK 1.1bn (Q4 2022: SEK 1bn), community games and hall bingo stayed consistent at SEK 46m (Q4 2022: SEK 46m) while land-based commercial gaming dropped slightly to SEK 56m (Q4 2022: SEK 58m).

Spelinspektionen added that at the end of Q4, just over 104,000 people were registered with the country’s self-exclusion service Spelpaus, a five per cent increase when compared to the same quarter the previous year.