Gambling revenue in Sweden saw a marginal increase of 0.5% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2025, reaching SEK6.71 billion ($712.6 million).
Gambling revenue in Sweden saw a marginal increase of 0.5% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2025, reaching SEK6.71 billion ($712.6 million).
The total GGR for the three months ending 30 September was slightly ahead of the SEK6.68 billion reported in Q3 2024. However, the result marked a 4.4% sequential decline from the SEK7.02 billion posted in the second quarter of 2025.
Figures from the regulator Spelinspektionen showed that commercial online gambling remains the primary source of all revenue in the market by a significant margin.
Revenue from the commercial online sector, which includes online casino and sports betting, climbed 3.5% year-on-year to reach SEK4.51 billion in Q3.
This growth is particularly noteworthy as it came against a challenging comparative period in Q3 2024. The same quarter last year benefited from two major sporting events: the latter stages of football’s Euro 2024 tournament and the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. The ability to post growth against such a strong backdrop indicates solid underlying health in the digital market.
Sweden’s land-based sector presented a mixed and declining picture. Revenue from the state lottery and physical slot machines saw a significant 7.2% year-on-year drop to SEK1.26 billion.
In contrast, revenue from lotteries classified as “gaming for public benefit” edged up 0.5% to SEK822 million. Bingo games operating under the same public benefit umbrella remained flat year-on-year at SEK48 million. Elsewhere, land-based commercial gaming, such as restaurant casinos, recorded a 3.1% rise in revenue to SEK67 million.
Significantly, Q3 2025 was the first quarter in which the former land-based casino monopoly, Casino Cosmopol, generated no gambling revenue. Parent company Svenska Spel closed its final physical casino in April, following the Swedish government’s vote to abolish land-based casinos. The official ban on land-based casinos in Sweden will take effect from 1 January 2026.
The market is also preparing for a significant regulatory tightening regarding gambling with credit. While the Swedish Gambling Act already prevents operators from offering credit, a new regulation will extend this ban significantly.
From 1 April 2026, both licensees and their gambling agents will be prohibited from processing transactions that involve any form of credit. This ban will extend beyond simple credit card use to include credit agreements with other parties, such as bank overdrafts and third-party loan agreements, if they are suspected of being used for gambling.
Licensees and agents will be required to take active measures to counteract gambling with credit, which could include blocking certain credit card payments and not promoting third-party lenders. The government did state that Spelinspektionen may grant certain exceptions, primarily for operators running gambling for public benefit, such as charity lotteries.
The two key stories from Sweden‘s Q3 data are the remarkable resilience of the online sector and the continued, methodical tightening of its regulatory regime.
The 3.5% growth in online GGR is the headline figure. Growing at all against a Q3 that contained both the Euros and the Olympics is a sign of a very mature and robust digital market. It suggests channelisation is strong and that baseline player engagement is healthy, independent of major sporting events.
In contrast, the land-based sector is in a state of managed decline, which is now official policy. The 7.2% drop in state lottery and slot revenue shows the channel shift is ongoing, while the SEK0 from Casino Cosmopol marks the final, definitive end of Sweden‘s land-based casino era.
The upcoming credit gambling ban is the most significant development. Moving to block transactions from bank overdrafts and third-party loans goes far beyond a simple payment gateway block. It pushes compliance responsibility onto the operator to police the source of a player’s funds, which is a far more complex technical and ethical challenge. It reinforces that Spelinspektionen‘s primary focus remains affordability and harm prevention above all else.
