The Swedish Gambling Authority (SGA) recently released a study reporting that Swedes are gambling less since the market’s reregulation. Since January 2019, gambling dropped 6 percentage points year-on-year.
Sixty percent of Swedes said they had gambled for money in comparison to 66 percent in 2018, according to the study, cited in CDC Gaming Reports.
Gambling participation has dropped 16 percentage points from 2013, when SGA first carried out the study; the body also found that 4 percent of online gamblers had played on a site without a Swedish license, and 78 percent said they had not played on any unlicensed sites.
Regulators have cracked down on unlicensed operators, resulting in negative third-quarter results for Gaming Innovation Group, down 19 percent year-on-year to €30.2 million (US$33.5 million) and Betsson Group, down 11 percent to SEK 1.28 billion (US$132.7 million).
“As the conditions in Sweden have not been right for large marketing investments, activities have been reduced and reallocated to other markets, where they provide better returns,” said Betsson AB CEO Pontus Lindwall.
