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The Swedish Gambling Authority (SGA) is warning that illegal land-based gambling may increase after the planned closure of Svenska Spel’s last remaining land-based casino in Stockholm.
The regulator has said that although it has no view on whether the country’s last legal casino, Casino Cosmopol, should be shuttered, it agreed with the Police Authority’s suggestion that the casino’s closing would lead to an increase in illegal casino games.
An expected increase in enforcement will mean that the agency will need to shift priorities in its resources, the SGA said.
The regulator said it has also noticed an increase in applications for venues with land-based casino games.
The potential closure is blamed on competition from the legalisation of online casinos in 2019, plus forced shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic.
If the move gains final approval, the casino would close on January 1, 2026.
In February, Casino Cosmopol closed its Gothenburg and Malmo casinos, and it had previously closed its Sundsvall location in 2020, also blaming competition from online casinos.
Government-owned Svenska Spel has been running casinos since 2001.
“We share the assessment that it is no longer possible to run Casino Cosmopol profitably,” said Erik Strand, president and chief executive of Svenska Spel in May, when the closure plans were first announced.
The company said it will do everything it can to support the 200 staff employed there as of the May announcement.
The SGA also noted that it expects to gain new powers to fight money laundering, which it welcomes.
Tax woes
Separately, the CEO of Swedish race betting monopoly AB Trav och Galopp (ATG) called the recently imposed increase in online gambling taxes “illogical” and a “horse tax”.
The tax increase hinders the mission of ATG, to boost the country’s trotting and racing industry, said Hasse Lord Skarplöth on Tuesday (August 20) as the company released its first-half earnings.
On July 1, the online gambling tax rose to 22 percent of gross gambling revenue, up from 18 percent.
ATG is expected to contribute 200m Swedish krona (€17.6m) of the SEK500m expected to be generated for the government by the tax increase, Skarplöth said.
ATG had proposed that online casino tax be raised to 26 percent, with sports betting left unchanged.
A two-tier taxing system would raise more money for the government treasury, while “we would also get better public health as online casino is the form of gambling most associated with gambling problems”, Skarplöth said.
The remarks on tax came as ATG said first-half net gaming revenue gained 6 percent to nearly SEK2.7bn, while profit rose 13 percent to SEK834m.
The company attributed its best first half ever in terms of revenue to jackpots in a racing game, the European football championships and gains in player numbers in online casino.
ATG is owned by the Swedish racing industry, although the government has effective control with a majority of its board members.
