Sweden’s licensed gambling market recorded SEK7.4 billion in turnover in the second quarter of 2026, a 5.1% rise on the same quarter of 2025, according to preliminary figures from the regulator Spelinspektionen. The figure converts to around $776 million.
Spelinspektionen defines turnover as players’ stakes minus winnings paid out, so the number represents what stayed with licensed operators rather than the total amount wagered.
The quarter picked up after a flat start to the year. Q1 2026 turnover was SEK6.68 billion, up 0.8% year on year, and the 2025 full year closed at SEK28.2 billion, 1.3% above 2024.
Online gambling takes two thirds of the market
Online gambling and sports betting produced SEK4.96 billion, up from SEK4.63 billion a year earlier, a 7% increase. The segment accounts for roughly 67% of all licensed turnover in the quarter.
It also supplied nearly all of the growth in absolute terms. Total licensed turnover rose by about SEK360 million year on year, and SEK330 million of that came from the online segment alone. The rest of the market moved very little.
Land-based gambling after Casino Cosmopol
State lotteries and slot machines, run under the state licence held by Svenska Spel, contributed SEK1.43 billion. Public benefit lotteries, the licence class used by charities and non-profit organisations, added SEK863 million. Hall bingo came in at SEK51 million.
Land-based commercial gaming, which covers restaurant casino games and comparable venue-based products, rose 13% to SEK73 million from SEK64 million.
Casino Cosmopol reported no turnover for the quarter. Svenska Spel closed the last of its Casino Cosmopol venues in 2025, which removes state-run land-based casino play from the quarterly series entirely. The licence class stays in the reporting table at zero.
Channelisation continues to fall
Spelinspektionen put channelisation, the share of Swedish online gambling that runs through licensed operators, at 84% for 2025. That is down from 85% in 2024 and 86% in 2023. The rate splits by product: 96% for betting against 81% for online casino.
The regulator identified 2,186 active unlicensed gambling websites reachable from Sweden as of 30 April 2026.
Growing licensed turnover and falling channelisation can occur together. If total Swedish gambling spend rises faster than the licensed segment, licensed operators can post higher figures while holding a smaller share of the money in play. The online casino reading of 81% is where the gap sits, and it is also the product with the strictest Swedish marketing and bonus rules.
Credit ban and technical rules now in force
Two measures arrived around the quarter. From 1 May 2026, licensed operators cannot accept deposits funded by credit card, overdraft, personal loan or buy-now-pay-later products. From 1 August 2026, a set of new technical requirements applies to licence holders.
The credit restriction covered two of the quarter’s three months, so its effect on the Q2 figure is partial. The technical requirements had no bearing on the period at all.
Self-exclusion register edges down
Just under 138,000 people were registered with Spelpaus, Sweden’s national self-exclusion service, in June 2026. That is 0.7% fewer than at the end of the previous quarter.
Registrations on Spelpaus block a person from all licensed gambling and from licensed operator marketing for the chosen period. A falling register is not a clean signal on its own, because the total moves with both new registrations and expiries of earlier ones.
What the third quarter will test
Q3 2026 is the first full period under both the credit deposit ban and the August technical requirements. It will show whether removing credit funding changes licensed online turnover, and whether the online segment can keep adding 7% a year without the credit-funded deposits some players used.
The channelisation reading is annual rather than quarterly, so the 2026 figure will not land until next year. Until then, the count of active unlicensed sites is the running indicator, and 2,186 of them were live in April.
Source: Spelinspektionen
