Svenska Spel's Q3 Operating Profit Falls 9% as Brand, AI and Cloud Spending Outruns 1% Revenue Growth

Sweden's state-owned gambling group grew net gaming revenue by 1% in the third quarter but earned less from it, because it chose to spend more on its brand, AI and a move to the cloud. The growth came from the licensed online arm; the lottery monopoly barely moved and the gaming-machine business shrank again.

• Svenska Spel's net gaming revenue rose 1% to SEK1.898 billion (approximately $191 million) in the third quarter, while operating profit fell 9% to SEK656 million, approximately $66 million, according to the interim report it published on 22 October
• The company puts the profit fall down to higher costs from strategic investment in the Svenska Spel brand, AI and a move to cloud-based services; other external costs rose to SEK460 million from SEK391 million
• Sport & Casino, the licensed online arm, grew 6% to SEK516 million, the Tur lottery business grew 1% to SEK1.316 billion, and Vegas, the gaming-machine business, fell 15% to SEK67 million
• Net profit from continuing operations slipped 3% to SEK565 million, and the operating margin narrowed to 35% from 38%, still above the owner's 30% target
• The report says Svenska Spel took market share in the licensed and lottery markets in the first half without giving a figure, and points to Spelinspektionen's proposed duty-of-care rules and the government's youth gambling inquiry

Svenska Spel's Revenue Edges Up While Its Operating Profit Falls

Svenska Spel's net gaming revenue for July to September was SEK1.898 billion, up from SEK1.874 billion a year earlier, according to the group's interim report. Svenska Spel defines net gaming revenue as customers' stakes minus winners' prizes, the measure most operators call GGR; stakes, which it labels gross gaming revenue, were SEK4.571 billion. Operating profit fell by SEK62 million to SEK656 million, and the operating margin narrowed from 38% to 35%.

By business area, Tur, the lottery business that operates under the state's exclusive licence, grew 1% to SEK1.316 billion, driven by Lotto and Triss; Eurojackpot fell short of last year's activity because of lower jackpots, according to the report. Sport & Casino, which holds a commercial online licence and competes in the open market, grew 6% to SEK516 million, helped by a strong end to the men's football World Cup and stable casino growth. Vegas, the network of about 2,700 video lottery terminals in some 900 restaurants and bingo halls, fell 15% to SEK67 million, which the report says was expected and reflects fewer partners. Online revenue grew 4% to SEK1.274 billion, 67% of the total. Casino Cosmopol, the land-based casino business, closed in April 2025 and now appears only as a discontinued operation.

The cost line explains the profit. Other external costs rose to SEK460 million from SEK391 million, which the report attributes to strategic investment in the brand, AI and cloud-based services, while personnel costs were flat at SEK185 million and headcount fell to 825 from 855. Gaming tax rose to SEK414 million from SEK388 million; Sweden has taxed licensed gambling at 22% since July 2024, up from 18%. The financial net improved to SEK60 million from SEK20 million, so net profit from continuing operations fell less sharply than operating profit, by 3% to SEK565 million, approximately $57 million.

For the nine months, net gaming revenue rose 3% to SEK5.741 billion and operating profit 2% to SEK1.932 billion. Total profit of SEK1.918 billion, against SEK1.439 billion, includes a SEK288 million gain on the sale of the former Casino Cosmopol property in Stockholm to Alecta Fastigheter.

The Chief Executive Claims Share in a Moderate Market

Anna Johnson, chief executive of Svenska Spel, said growth in the Swedish gambling market was moderate and competition for customers hard, and called it a sign of strength that the group had taken market share in both the licensed and the lottery markets in the first half of 2026. The report gives no market share figure. Johnson said Svenska Spel beat its World Cup targets through the final weeks in July and that active customers in Sport & Casino reached record levels in the quarter. She described the brand work as the largest renewal of Svenska Spel's identity since the company was formed in 1997.

On the wider market, the report cites Spelinspektionen, the Swedish Gambling Authority, as putting licensed turnover at SEK7.4 billion in the second quarter, up just over 5%, with commercial online gaming and betting up just over 7%. It notes that the consultation on Spelinspektionen's proposed new responsible gambling regulations closed during the quarter, with clearer duty-of-care requirements and special consideration for young adults, and that work continues on a participation criterion that would let authorities act more directly against unlicensed gambling. Svenska Spel says high channelisation is central to a safe and sustainable market.

The share of net gaming revenue from customers at low risk of problem gambling, a measure Svenska Spel calls healthy revenue, was 94%, against 95% a year earlier. Johnson wrote that despite more customers and higher revenue, the company sees no increase in risky gambling. Svenska Spel's head of responsible gambling and AML, Annika Hjälm, rejected in July an Aftonbladet report that the group had deprioritised responsible gambling, saying customers aged 18 and 19 can deposit at most SEK1,000 a month.

The Profit Fall Is a Spending Choice, Not a Trading Problem

Revenue grew, personnel costs did not, and the SEK69 million rise in other external costs is larger than the SEK62 million fall in operating profit. Svenska Spel is spending on a brand renewal, AI and cloud infrastructure, and it has the room to do so: a 35% margin is still five points above the 30% the state sets as its target over time. The comparison was also demanding, because the third quarter of 2025 had the highest operating profit of the five quarters the report charts. The question for the state as owner is whether the spending lifts growth above the 1% this quarter produced, since the owner's target is a dividend of at least 80% of profit after tax.

The Growth Sits in the Arm That Competes With Everyone Else

Tur makes up 69% of revenue and grew 1%; Vegas keeps shrinking as play moves online. That leaves Sport & Casino, up 6% with record active customers, carrying the group's growth, in the same licensed market where Spelinspektionen has proposed tighter duty-of-care rules and where the courts this month upheld SEK44 million in penalties against bet365 over deposit limits. A state-owned operator growing its casino and betting business faces the same scrutiny as its commercial rivals, and the one-point slip in healthy revenue, small as it is, is the number critics will watch. Svenska Spel's case for a participation criterion against unlicensed sites is consistent with its interests: a commercial online segment growing at 7% while the lottery barely moves is where its future revenue lies.

Svenska Spel has chosen to trade a few points of margin for investment while its licensed online arm does the growing. Whether that buys faster growth or only higher costs will show in the quarters after the brand renewal lands.