Gambling in Sweden remains widely spread with 3 in 4 partcipating

Gambling participation in Sweden remains as high as ever, with the regulated market contributing, but not fully occasioning the high levels of engagement with gambling. The good news is that as channelization into the regulated market remains fairly strong, and despite some qualms about underperformance, Sweden has been doing a good job of collating actionable data insight into the habits of its gamblers.

A national survey doing just that, and conducted by Enkätfabriken, a public opinion company, has revealed certain interesting figures about Swedish consumers’ gambling habits. Among them is the fact that 75% or 3 in 4 people in Sweden gambled in the past 12 months, with the percentage going up on previous survey results. Almost half of all respondents, 41% did so in the past week.

The majority of people, 74%, prefer to play lotteries or number games. The high level of participation is not explained by an underlying problem more so than it is with the fact that the public actually trusts gambling businesses in the country, a rare instance of public opinion that bucks the trend.

Nearly 70% of all respondents say that they believe gambling companies to be taking sufficient responsibility to addressproblem gambling and gambling-related harms. Also, the number of respondents who put their confidence in the gambling industry has increased.

Another remarkable achievement of the Swedish market is the fact that there is surprisingly big awareness of the national self-exclusion program, Spelpaus.se, with 65% of respondents being aware that should they run into trouble, they may always turn to the program and seek help.

The industry seems to be doing well, but the government is keen to do more to regulate it, and among this is a proposal to ratchet the current tax rate from 18% to 22%. This could have an unintended consequence that is actually going to worsen the competitiveness of the market, believes 4H Agency Head of Eastern Europe Desk Ivan Kurochkin who takes a closer look at the state of regulatory affairs in the country.

The issue at hand does not have to do with the government trying to punish the industry, but rather out of a conviction that gambling operators have had enough time to operate locally, and that the industry is in fact mature enough, meriting a higher tax rate proportionate to what is often seen as its riskier profile.

As other jurisdictions continue to grapple with regulation, Germany included, Sweden is living proof that high participation in gambling does not necessarily mean harm to consumers. The country’s channelization for the regulated gambling market is estimated to be at around 80%, much higher than that of Germany where half of the punters are thought to be gambling with illegal gambling sites.

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