Gambling revenue in Sweden edged up 0.8% year-on-year during the first quarter of 2026, with growth in the online gambling sector offsetting declines elsewhere in the market.
Total revenue for the three months through to the end of March amounted to SEK6.68bn (€613m), the Swedish Gambling Authority (SGA) said. This was marginally ahead of Q1 last year but lower than each of the other three quarters in 2025.
Together, commercial online gaming including casino and sports betting drew SEK4.44bn in revenue. This was by far the most of all market sectors and 3.4% above the previous year.
However, most other areas reported a year-on-year decline. This included state lottery and slot machine gaming, with revenue down 3.4% to SEK1.27bn during the three-month period.
Elsewhere, games and lotteries with the ‘public benefit’ sector saw revenue decline by 2.6% to SEK863m. However, there was a slight increase in land-based commercial gaming, such as restaurant casinos, with revenue edging up 3.6% to SEK57m.
As was the case in the preceding two quarters, no revenue was reported from land-based casinos. This was due to the final Casino Cosmopol location closing its doors early in 2025.
Swedish gambling self-exclusion register nears 138,000
The regulator does not publish a breakdown of the performance of individual operators in the Swedish market. Instead, data from all approved operators is grouped together to offer a complete market overview.
However, the SGA did reveal an increase in the number of players who had self-excluded from gambling. By the end of Q1, almost 138,000 people had registered with the Spelpaus.se national self-exclusion scheme, up 2.6% from Q4 last year.
Sweden launched its regulated online gambling market in January 2019, moving away from the country’s traditional monopoly model and allowing operators to apply for licences to offer services to Swedish players.
