Spelinspektoren has published licensed gambling revenue figures for 2019, the first full year of re-regulation in Sweden.
Overall, regulated operators in the country generated SEK 24.8 billion (£2.03 billion/€2.34 billion/$2.62 billion).
Main revenue sources
Online casino was the primary revenue source for operators last year, along with gambling on ships. In the 12 months ending on December 31st 2019, revenue hit SEK 14 billion. This figure was joint-released by both Spelinspektoren and the Swedish Tax Agency.
Elsewhere, state lottery and gambling machine revenue stood at SEK 5.91 billion. National lottery games were responsible for the generation of SEK 3.4 million.
Q4 2019 was the busiest three months for operators, when it came to income. For this timescale, total revenue reached SEK 6.5 billion.
The impact of unregulated gambling in Sweden
Although there is no official information on the exact amount that Swedes wager with unlicensed operators, estimates have been made. According to analytics company H2 Gambling Capital, unregulated gambling revenue in Sweden was likely to be somewhere between SEK 1.8 billion and SEK 2.2 billion for 2019.
For Q4 2019, H2 Gambling Capital said that this figure probably ranged from SEK 580 million to SEK 690 million.
There are currently 96 operators that have a permit to provide gambling services in Sweden. 70 of these are licensed to offer online betting and casino markets. Neither of these figures include non-profit operators.
Spelinspektoren has already announced and begun to act on plans to reduce the number of unlicensed operators in the country.
Year-on-year comparisons difficult to determine
Since Sweden only opened up iGaming further last January, comparing year-on-year market growth is difficult. For 2018, regulated gambling activities generated SEK 16.7 billion in revenue. However, when accounting for unlicensed operators, this figure rose to SEK 23.4 billion.
Some of those unregulated operators have since obtained a Swedish licence. So, they would have been included in licensed figures for last year. This would no doubt have played a part in the year-on-year regulated revenue jump of 48.5%.
