Sweden’s gambling market posted modest growth in the first nine months of 2018 despite locally licensed operators reporting sales declines.

Figures released Thursday by the Lotteriinspektionen gaming regulatory body show Swedish market’s gambling turnover hitting SEK16.8b (US$1.86b) in the nine months ending September 30, a 1.2% rise over the same period last year.

As they’ve done all year, Swedish-licensed operators reported falling sales, in this case, falling 2.4% to SEK12.24b, while those rascally internationally licensed online gambling operators reported sales up 12.4% to SEK4.54b.

The 2.4% fall is twice the rate of decline that Swedish operators reported in Q1, bolstering the findings of recent surveys that indicated the state-run monopolies were getting their clocks cleaned in the battle for signing up new customers.