Swedish market resilient despite abolition of physical casinos
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10 Sep 2025 •
Reading time: 2 minutes At the turn of summer 2025, a breath of fresh air is sweeping across the Swedish gambling landscape. For the second quarter, total revenues reached SEK 7.02 billion, up 1.9% on the same period last year. This figure is also 5.9% higher than in the first quarter of 2025, demonstrating real, albeit subtle, momentum.
The rise of online gambling: a pillar of the changing market
The beating heart of these revenues remains commercial online gambling, encompassing Internet casinos and sports betting. With SEK 4.63 billion generated, this segment posted growth of 1.4% despite a demanding point of comparison: the excitement generated by Euro 2024 in 2024.
At the same time, the state lottery and physical slot machines stood out with a 10.2% jump to SEK 1.42 billion, the best performance of all segments.
In contrast, lotteries classified as “for the benefit of the public” saw their revenues fall by 5.3% to SEK 846 million, while public bingo stagnated at SEK 49 million.
Commercial land-based activities, such as casino restaurants, generated SEK 63 million.
The final curtain on land-based casinos
In April 2025, the last Casino Cosmopol closed, marking the end of an era. The closure, which was brought forward despite a licence to operate until the end of 2025, followed a political decision by the Swedish parliament to ban land-based casinos, effective from 1 January 2026.
The operator, Svenska Spel, precipitated this closure, signalling a symbolic break in the Swedish gambling landscape.
Challenges remain
Beyond the figures, the channelling rate, i.e. the share of regulated gambling activities versus the total market, is a cause for concern: it stands at 85%, below the target of 90%. Online casinos are the main weakness, with an estimated channelling rate of between 72% and 82%.
In response, the Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling (BOS) has sent a letter to the Ministry of Finance, calling for an investigation to strengthen regulation.
In addition, the self-exclusion programme (Spelpaus), which allows players to ban themselves from authorised Swedish operators, had almost 128,000 users, an increase of 2.2% on the previous quarter.
Leadership in transition
Finally, a turning point is looming at the top of regulation. Camilla Rosenberg, Managing Director of Spelinspektionen since 2017, will step down on 31 October 2025 to head the Swedish Estate Agents Inspectorate.