MEDIAVISION: Majority of Swedes’ gambling spend on sports goes to offshore operators

Offshore gambling operators, such as Unibet and Bet365, continue to grow on the Swedish gambling market. The growth of these companies is to a high degree driven by online casino, a gambling type that isn’t offered by any operator that is regulated on the Swedish market. However, Mediavision also see significant growth within sports betting, partly at the expense of state owned Svenska Spel.

On the 31st of March 2017, the Swedish government’s gambling review will be presented with recommendations for a future Swedish gambling market. A speculated outcome is the introduction of a license based system, similar to the one in Denmark. This would open for offshore gambling companies to file for license and thereby act under the same terms as Swedish gambling operators, such as Svenska Spel, ATG, and Postkodlotteriet.

In recent years, offshore gambling operators have grown steadily. Throughout 2016, the group grabbed 23 percent of the total Swedish gambling market turnover. In total, the group displayed a turnover growth at 16 percent during 2016, while Swedish actors grew by the more modest figure of 2 percent, per numbers from Lotteriinspektionen.

The offshore operators’ growth has to a high degree been driven by online casinos, a gambling type that operators regulated in Sweden are currently not allowed to offer. The other main area of growth is sports betting, where the offshore companies compete against state owned Svenska Spel.