Sweden says unauthorized online gambling operators gaining market share

Sweden says unauthorized online gambling operators have increased their share of the country’s market.

On Wednesday, Swedish gaming regulator Lotteriinspektionen released statistics on its gambling market over the first half of 2015. Regulated market operators (both online and land-based) reported gross gaming revenue of SEK 7.9b (US $939m); a 0.3% rise over the same period last year. Meanwhile, online operators not holding a Swedish license saw revenue increase 5% to SEK 2b ($238m).

Local betting monopoly Svenska Spel’s H1 revenue fell 2% to SEK 4.3b, with land-based revenue down 5% to SEK 3.5b and online up 9% to SEK 819m. Horseracing operator ATG’s revenue increased 4% to SEK 1.8b, largely due to an 13% rise in online revenue. The Postcode lottery was flat at SEK 1.1b.

Lotteriinspektionen says the country’s warnings about illegal operators marketing to Swedish punters have had an effect, with total gambling advertising spending falling SEK 140m to SEK 1.5b. Lotteriinspektionen says the decrease was spread across both authorized and unauthorized operators.