Swedish 2020 GGR steady as online growth offsets land-based decline

Online betting and gaming made up SEK15.16bn of this total, up 8.1% year-on-year. 

Svenska’s Spel’s Tur state lottery and Vegas line of slot machines saw revenue fall by 8.1%, to SEK5.44bn.

The state-owned operator’s Casino Cosmopol land-based casinos, the only such venues in the country, were closed for the vast majority of the year to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19). As a result, revenue was down 79.9% to just SEK196m.

Charitable lotteries brought in a further SEK3.55bn, up 4.0% while bingo revenue was down 21.9% to SEK182m. Restaurant casinos brought in SEK166m, down 26.9%.

Spelinspektionen added that, according to analysis from H2 Gambling Capital, unlicensed gambling operators’ revenue from Sweden fell between SEK2.4bn and SEK2.8bn.

Looking only at the fourth quarter of 2020, revenue came to SEK6.79bn, the highest ever figure for a single quarter in Sweden and 2.1% more than Q4 of 2019. This was mostly due to online revenue breaking the SEK4bn barrier for the first time at SEK4.19bn. 

Tur and Vegas revenue came to SEK1.54bn, while charity lotteries brought in SEK982m and bingo revenue was SEK44m. Restaurant casinos brought in SEK32m, while all Casino Cosmopol casinos were closed.

The continued growth of online revenue came despite the country requiring operators to bring in a SEK5000 mandatory deposit cap for online casino games from June. The cap was originally planned to be in place until the end of 2020, but was then extended to June 2021.