The Swedish Government recently imposed tough limits on online casino deposits and bonuses. This has made the life of the operators hard. Some of the licensed operators reported falling revenue since then.
As per the local reports, in the period of June to August, many of the locally licensed operators have reported a sales decline of 30%.
On July 2, Sweden implemented the new rule by virtue of which the weekly deposit limit for casino players become SEK5K or $537. The online casino bonus was capped at SEK100K. This was introduced to limit the gambling-related harm as the netizens are stuck at home due to the COVID19 pandemic. However, the data received does not support for the drastic measures.
Comeon Group has reported a fall of revenue from SEK118m in June to SEK83mn in August, a drop of 29.6%. The Kindred Group reported a fall of revenue from SEK101mn in June to SEK72mn in August, a drop of 28.7%. Bet365 did better and dropped by 6%.
Gustaff Hoffstedt, CEO of Branschföreningen för Onlinespel (BOS), Sweden’s online gambling industry group said that the operators who are casino dependent are suffering. Many of the Swedish are switching to the Internationally licensed online casinos that are not subjected to the new law.
The state-controlled Ab Trav Och Galopp (ATG) isn’t under pressure. The horseracing was never stopped during the pandemic, unlike other sports. The ATG racing betting also does not come under any such restriction imposed by the government. The revenue of ATG skyrocketed to SEK522mn in August, an increase of 22.2% from June and 20.2% from August 2019.
Skarplöth’s enthusiasm notwithstanding, the Länsförsäkringar insurance giant’s mutual funds operation has purged all the gambling operators from the portfolio. They removed 20 gaming companies in Q1 and another 28 in the summer. The company sights money laundering risk as raised by, Spelinspektionen, the gambling regulator of Sweden.
Source: https://calvinayre.com/2020/10/05/business/sweden-online-casino-limits-gambling-sales-fall/