In a few months the results of the Swedish government review on new regulation for the gambling market will be presented. Many hope to see a system for licensing in Sweden in which gambling companies currently regulated offshore are included. As shown by Mediavision, these companies have already established themselves in a big way on the Swedish gambling market. Swedes who gamble via offshore gambling companies spend considerably more on their gambling compared to those who gamble through companies regulated in Sweden, not in the least when it comes to live and mobile gambling.

Four out of ten Swedes aged 18 to 74 gamble an average month. A significant majority gamble with companies regulated by the Swedish Gambling Authority, such as state-owned Svenska Spel, ATG, and Svenska Postkodföreningen.

However, one in five players turn to companies regulated offshore, such as Bet365, Mr Green, or Leovegas. These gambling companies offer online casinos, poker and sports betting in Sweden. Over the course of the last few years, these companies have steadily increased their market shares at the expense of companies regulated in Sweden, both when it comes to share of players, and in total market revenue.

While the gambling companies situated offshore have considerably fewer players, these customers are much more active and engaged. Their players spend about four times as much money on gambling compared to the ones gambling through Swedish companies.

Bet365 in particular, but also Unibet and Betsson, have been successful in pushing live and mobile gambling to their customers. Live betting, live casino, or poker give players the opportunity to gamble in real time, for instance while a sports game is underway. This, in turn, increases average turnover per gambler, where especially live gamblers stake significantly more money than others on gambling.

– The offshore companies have been very successful in attracting gamblers through clever marketing and product development, particularly within the live categories. The challenge for them is to hold on to these gamblers in a highly competitive market, where players are very agile and quick to move between platforms. This requires that companies constantly work to keep their users’ engagement at a high level. We will probably continue to see a rather aggressive marketing strategy by these companies, not in the least because they want to obtain as strong a market position as possible before the potential re-regulation of the Swedish gambling market, says Arvid Åsbrink, senior analysist at Mediavision.

Pressrelease oktober 2016 pdf