Sweden’s gambling monopolies crushing new online market

Sweden’s former gambling monopolies are winning the battle for market share in the newly regulated online market.

On Thursday, Sweden’s Spelinspektionen regulatory body released a brief snapshot of how its new online gambling licensees were faring under the new regulatory scheme. Based on its own computations and Swedish tax agency info, Spelinspektionen said net revenue over the first three months of 2019 totaled nearly SEK3.3b (US$353.4m).

Despite having nearly 60 competitors, Sweden’s two former gambling monopolies claimed half (SEK1.645b) of Q1’s overall online revenue. Svenska Spel (sports betting) was estimated to have generated revenue of SEK577m while ATG (horseracing) was the overall champ with SEK1.07b. (Those figures don’t include either firm’s land-based operations.)

Earlier this month, Spelinspektionen released figures covering total online and land-based gaming revenue over the first two months of 2019. Svenska Spel was the clear leader, with ATG in second, while international online operators were well back, led by the Kindred Group’s Unibet (SEK247m), Bet365 (SEK117m) and LeoVegas (SEK103m).