Competition between off-shore regulated and Swedish gambling companies have increased significantly as a re-regulation of the Swedish gambling market draws closer. With a new licensing system being introduced in January 2019, several off-shore regulated actors are expected to apply. Mediavision concludes that gambling with off-shore companies has kept increasing during the spring.

Gambling companies have increased their advertising efforts significantly as of late. Leading up to, as well as during the ongoing FIFA World Cup, this has been especially apparent for broadcast TV. During the first half of 2018 no less than 55 different gambling brands ran ads on TV, according to MMS. This is a considerable increase compared to the same period last year, when only 29 gambling brands ran TV ads. Moreover, last week Kindred Group announced Unibet as the new main sponsor of Swedish premier football league Allsvenskan, thus replacing state-owned Svenska Spel after 85 years. As the off-shore companies increase their exposure, they keep expanding their player base.

Mediavision has stated earlier that the lion’s share of the Swedish gambling market growth can be attributed to the off-shore companies. For instance, the majority of newly registered gambling accounts over the last year has been with off-shore actors. Furthermore, during the spring of 2018 Mediavision has measured a significantly stronger increase in monthly gamblers with the off-shore companies in the ages 18-74. This is also reflected in the overall market shares in Sweden, where the off-shore regulated actors are continuously increasing their share at the expense of the Sweden-regulated companies.

– With the upcoming re-regulation and a significant increase in advertising, 2018 presents a new phase for the Swedish gambling market. Already in the months leading up to the FIFA World Cup, Mediavision saw a steady increase in sports betting, which has since accelerated even more. Even though Svenska Spel also has seen an increase in sports betting during the World Cup the trend is clear, in that the off-shore regulated actors continuously increase their market share, says Arvid Åsbrink, analyst at Mediavision.