Svenska Spel Suffers Revenue Decline in Q4

Sweden’s former main gambling operator, Svenska Spel, announced an overall revenue decline in Q4 of 2018 despite quite high online gains.

The numbers were released on Wednesday and, according to them, Svenska Spel had around $260.5 million of revenue generated during the last three months of last year…

…which is a 3.7% decline comparing to Q4 of 2017.

Also, the Swedish company’s profit was down 3.1% compared to last year’s and came up to $133 million. Svenska Spel’s main branch, which is a Lottery division, was flat at $142 million.

On the other hand, the Sports and Casino branch fell at 7% to $62 million, while their Casino Cosmopol and Vegas unit fell more than 10% to $53 million.

Best in Online Sector

The highlights of Q4 in 2018 definitely were Svenska Spel’s online operations. The overall revenue of this division of the company…

…was up 14% at $83 million, while the online share of overall revenue jumped up 32%.

The mobile revenue went through an even bigger growth in Q4 and was up 26%, while mobile’s share of overall revenue shoot up 23%.

Overall Look at 2018

Looking at the whole of 2018, Svenska Spel’s revenue came up to $951 million, which is a $17 million decline comparing to the revenue in 2017…

…and the overall profits came down 4% to $487 million.

Of course, the best of the year was the online division, with one-fifth growth of the revenue. Mobile revenue was even bigger and up nearly two-fifths comparing to 2017.

A Word from the CEO

Svenska Spel had to separate its operations into two sectors: online and land-based, because international gambling operators said the company holds the monopoly in Sweden and that it is unfair.

The CEO of Svenska Spel, Patrik Hofbauer, said that the adaptation of Sweden’s newly regulated gambling market was a “huge effort in a short time” and that his company tried to introduce its “new gaming experiences” to Swedish wagers “aggressively and thoughtfully.”

Newly Regulated Market

Swedish Gambling Authority, or as the Swedes call it, Spelinspektionen, issued almost 70 licenses to new operators in a short period of time…

…which shows how the Swedish gambling market is going through an amazing expansion.

But, the regulatory body had to issue an official and final warning to the operators who don’t obey the conditions regarding self-excluding rules. If they don’t do so, they will suffer financial consequences or a complete loss of the license.

The country gave the opportunity to every citizen who wishes not to participate in gambling to use the self-exclusion rule…

…and up until now around 10.000 people signed up for this.

Ban of Gambling Ads

Also, the Swedish Minister of Civil Affairs, Ardalan Shekarabi, announced that the government will ban gambling ads during live sports events.

Minister Shekarabi said that the Swedes were very “tired of the extremely aggressive marketing and the unrestrained advertising.” According to him, newly licensed operators “have a huge responsibility and must ensure that they live up to the requirements and intentions” of the newly issued Swedish gambling laws.

Source:

“Svenska Spel revenue, profit fall despite online gambling surge”, Steven Stradbrooke, calvinayre.com, February 6, 2019.