Swedish Gambling Market Sees Modest Growth in 2025 as Online Activity Balances Land-Based Losses

Key Points

• Growth was a modest 1.3% with online gaming still climbing but land-based casinos tanking after the Cosmopol Casino closure.
• More and more people are getting in on the action at 72% participation rate. Self-exclusion is becoming more popular & folks are starting to trust the regulated market a bit more.
• State lottery tickets took a hit but public benefit lotteries, Bingo and restaurant gaming all managed to eke out tiny gains.

Sweden’s licensed gambling market barely budged between 2024 and 2025. Total net turnover hit SEK28.2 billion, up just 1.3% from last year. Online commercial gaming and betting pulled in a bit over SEK18 billion, growing 3.3% a steady climb compared to previous years. Not everything moved in the same direction, though. State lotteries took a hit, dropping 3.4% to SEK5.5 billion. Meanwhile, lotteries that support public benefit climbed 1.7% to SEK3.76 billion. Player preferences are shifting bit by bit. Public benefit bingo nudged up 0.5% to SEK201 million, staying above its five-year average. The numbers paint a picture of slow but noticeable change in how people choose to play. At the same time, turnover from state casino games at Casino Cosmopol plunged dramatically by 78.8% to SEK34m, marking the sector’s final entry before its closure on 24 April 2025. With land-based casinos disappearing from operation, players appeared to shift toward other physical settings, pushing restaurant-based commercial casino gaming up by 9.6% to SEK263m.

Market Performance and Segment Shifts in 2025

Quarterly data showed the same broad patterns that had already appeared clearly across the full year’s gambling performance. Total turnover for Q4 2025 hit SEK7.81bn, up 2.6% from the same time last year. Online casinos and betting kept climbing, jumping 7.1% to SEK4.95bn building on the steady rise since SEK4.2bn back in Q4 2020. The state lottery took a hard hit, falling 11% to SEK1.52bn. On the other hand, public-benefit lotteries grew 6.8% to SEK1.2bn, showing people’s growing interest in supporting charities. Bingo and other public-benefit games didn’t budge, holding steady at SEK54m for both years. Since Casino Cosmopol shut down last year, state casino games continued to record zero turnover, helping explain why restaurant and small-venue gaming rose by 12% to SEK74m.

Several broader industry developments likely shaped these outcomes, including Sweden’s credit card gambling ban, political scandals tied to lotteries, and Svenska Spel ending its monopoly while keeping online casino control. Alongside these shifts, self-exclusion registrations kept rising, with about 134,500 people enrolled at Spelpaus.se by the fourth quarter’s end, marking a growth of just over 3% from the previous quarter.

Player Behaviour, Participation, and Public Perception Trends

Earlier this month, a study found that 72% of people in 2025 said they’d gambled in the past year, just edging out the 71% who reported the same in 2024. Digging into the details, 32% of respondents gambled every week and 28% played monthly. Men and those over 50 still lead the pack when it comes to frequent gambling. Practical concerns dominated reasons for stopping, since 48% of former participants said they never win, while 25% reported that they had simply grown tired of gambling. Women tended to mention a lack of winnings more often, whereas men more frequently referred to fatigue, greater financial losses, or the constant presence of advertising.

Since 2023, engagement has risen in most gambling categories, and bingo together with betting showed the clearest increases in participation when compared with 2024. Meanwhile, gender behaviour followed familiar lines, with women more involved in lottery and bingo, and men more active in betting markets. Entertainment held its position as the primary motivation, cited by 64% of respondents, while 42% reported gambling to win big, a percentage that keeps edging upward. Interest in gambling for charitable support declined further over the same period. Public perceptions of Sweden’s gambling market improved in gradual steps, as more respondents felt the industry assumes sufficient social responsibility. Men tended to judge the market as safer and healthier than women, and regular gamblers offered more favourable assessments than those who play less often. Close to 30% of respondents stated they can identify whether an operator holds a Swedish licence, a figure broadly unchanged from 2024 yet higher than in earlier surveys.