Sweden’s online sector drives Q1 market growth
Table of contents
- Sweden’s licensed gambling market generated SEK6.68bn in Q1 2026, a 0.8% year-on-year increase, according to Spelinspektionen.
- Commercial online gambling rose 3.4% to SEK4.44bn, accounting for 66.5% of total licensed market revenue.
- Exactly 138,000 players were registered with the Spelpaus self-exclusion scheme at the end of the quarter, up 2.6% on Q4 2025.
Sweden’s licensed gambling market generated SEK6.68bn (€613m) in the first quarter of 2026, a 0.8% increase on the same period a year earlier, according to Spelinspektionen, the Swedish Gambling Authority.
Commercial online gambling drove the gain, compensating for declines across most other segments.
Online outpaces the market
Commercial online gambling, which covers online casino and sports betting, produced SEK4.44bn in Q1 2026, up 3.4% from SEK4.30bn in Q1 2025.
The segment accounted for 66.5% of total licensed market revenue, compared with 64.8% a year earlier. The channel mix has shifted steadily towards digital since Sweden re-regulated its gambling market in January 2019.
Land-based commercial gaming, principally restaurant casinos, also grew. Revenue edged up 3.6% to SEK57m from SEK55m in Q1 2025.
Offline segments under pressure
State lottery and slot machine gaming fell 3.4% to SEK1.27bn, against SEK1.32bn in the same quarter last year. Public benefit lotteries dropped 2.6% to SEK863m. Hall bingo held flat at SEK47m.
No revenue was reported from land-based casinos for the third consecutive quarter. Svenska Spel closed its final Casino Cosmopol venue in early 2025, and a legislative ban on land-based casinos took effect on 1 January 2026.
For reference, Sweden’s licensed market generated a full-year total of SEK28.2bn in 2025, a 1.3% increase on 2024, per Spelinspektionen’s annual statistics. The Q1 2026 figures are preliminary.
Self-exclusions reach new high
At the end of Q1, 138,000 players were registered with the Spelpaus.se national self-exclusion scheme, a 2.6% increase on the Q4 2025 figure. The count is a record for the register and has risen in every quarter since re-regulation.
The Q1 data arrives as Sweden’s regulatory framework undergoes significant change. A comprehensive ban on credit-funded gambling took effect on 1 May 2026. It prohibits licensed operators from accepting deposits via credit cards, overdrafts, personal loans, or buy-now-pay-later services.
The Riksdag approved the measure to close a loophole in the original 2018 Gambling Act. Under the previous rules, operators could not extend credit directly, but players remained able to fund accounts through external borrowing. The impact on deposit volumes will not be visible until Q2 data is published.
On enforcement, Spelinspektionen has continued to pursue unlicensed operators. The regulator banned Novatech in March for serving Swedish players without a licence and updated its supervision fees from 1 March 2026.
In the licensed market, LeoVegas Group took its Tiger sportsbook live on GoGoCasino in Sweden in April, marking the platform’s fourth market.
What the numbers mean
Commercial online now accounts for two-thirds of all licensed revenue in Sweden, a share that has grown each year since re-regulation. For operators, the credit ban is the more immediate variable. Its effect on deposit behaviour will not be clear until later in the year.
Sweden has also commissioned a study into children’s exposure to gambling-style products, including loot boxes and social casino mechanics, signalling that the regulatory agenda extends beyond payment restrictions alone.
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