Swedish Gambling Market Stats Show Interesting Trends

The Swedish regulatory body Spelinspektionen, which used to be known as Lotteriinspektionen just released its annual survey which shows that gambling habits of its citizens. This is a useful source of data for gambling operators who are targeting Sweden as it helps them cater their offerings and know what changes they need to make going forward.

The biggest concern popping up from these results is that the demand for gambling in Sweden continues to be sluggish.

According to the survey, around 66 percent of Swedes had gambled for money at least once in 2018. The 2017 survey showed similar results. However, it is concerning that demand is dropping.

The 2013 survey showed a 76 percent participation rate in gambling which means there has been a 10 percent drop in recent years.

Besides this lower demand, the number of those who claimed to not gamble has increased to 16 percent. According to the survey, a third of Swedish people have stopped gambling because they never won any money. Another 22 percent have completely lost their trust in the gambling market. Boredom was another reason for them stopping gambling.

Swedes liked wagering on horse races, bingo, and lotteries. These games generated more interest than online casino games with many of the surveyed individuals stating that they preferred offline gambling to online gambling. For example, 57 percent of respondents say that they went for land-based lottery activity, while only 17 percent pursued online betting. Plus, bingo has three times more players in bingo halls than online bingo websites.

International Operators Struggle In Sweden

More than 60 percent of Swedish gamblers bet with Svenska Spel, the state’s gambling company. International gaming operators do not have much of a say in Sweden’s online gambling industry with Bet365 being the most prominent brand taking over 3 percent of the market. Unibet was the next biggest player in the industry with a 2 percent stake while other brands such as PokerStars, LeoVegas, and Cherry, each got 1 percent of the share.

As for problem gambling stats were concerned, only three percent of Swedes say that they gambled more than they should have in 2018. This is a pretty consistent number. Seven percent of respondents said that they knew someone who gambled too much. It helps that Sweden’s self-exclusion program is pretty popular as Spelinspektionen showed that more than 10,000 Swedes have signed up for the program.