Internationally licensed online gambling operators now control one-quarter of Sweden’s overall gambling market.

Figures released this week by the Lotteriinspektionen gaming regulatory body show Sweden’s overall gambling market was worth SEK 16.5b (US $1.95b) through the first nine months of 2017, a sum roughly 3% greater than the market generated in the same period last year.

However, Swedish-licensed operators’ share of that pie – SEK 12.5b – was essentially flat year-on-year, while online gambling operators not holding a Swedish gaming license – i.e. all of them not named Svenska Spel – saw their share rise 11% year-on-year to just over SEK 4b.

The state-owned (for the time being) Svenska Spel reported overall year-to-date sales declining 1% to SEK 6.5b. The decline was entirely due to land-based operations, which fell 5% to SEK 4.9b, while online operations improved 15% to just under SEK 1.6b.