Sweden’s Licensed Online Gambling Market Grows More Than 7%

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Altay Celikkaya

Content Manager

Updated: 28/08/26

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Sweden’s licensed commercial online gambling and betting market generated more than SEK4.9 billion in the second quarter of 2026, rising by over 7% year on year. The digital segment comfortably outpaced the 5.1% increase recorded across the wider regulated gambling market.

Total preliminary net turnover, effectively gross gaming revenue rather than player stakes, reached SEK7.4 billion between April and June. The figures were published by the Swedish Gambling Authority, Spelinspektionen, on 26 August and may be revised as final tax and market data become available.

Rising bar chart and upward arrow over the Swedish flag representing gambling market growth in Q2 2026

Markets & Regions

Key Takeaways From Sweden’s Q2 Market Growth

Licensed operators generated a preliminary GGR of SEK7.4 billion in Q2 2026, up 5.1% from the same period in 2025.
Commercial online gambling and betting contributed more than SEK4.9 billion and expanded by over 7% year on year.
Digital activity accounted for roughly two thirds of licensed market revenue and supplied most of the annual increase.
Spelpaus registrations fell slightly during the quarter, although almost 138,000 people remained self-excluded at the end of June.

Online Channels Supply Most of the Increase

According to the regulator’s Q2 market update, licensed operators’ combined GGR increased from approximately SEK7.02 billion in Q2 2025 to SEK7.38 billion in Q2 2026. Commercial online gambling and betting rose from SEK4.63 billion to SEK4.96 billion over the same period.

This means the digital category supplied about SEK328 million of the market’s SEK356 million annual increase, or roughly 92% based on the regulator’s rounded figures. It also represented just over 67% of total licensed GGR for the quarter.

The acceleration is clear when compared with Sweden’s Q2 2025 gambling revenue, when the market grew by a more modest 1.9% and online revenue advanced by 1.4%. Q2 2026 therefore shows both broader market momentum and a sharper shift towards digital products.

Quarterly Growth Extends the 2025 Trend

The quarterly performance builds on Sweden’s full-year 2025 gambling market results. Licensed market GGR reached SEK28.2 billion last year, an increase of 1.3%, while commercial online gambling and betting grew by 3.3% to more than SEK18 billion.

Other Q2 2026 verticals were considerably smaller. Commercial land-based gambling, mainly restaurant casinos, produced SEK73 million and grew by almost 13%. State lotteries and gaming machines contributed approximately SEK1.43 billion, while public-benefit lotteries generated SEK863 million. State casino gaming recorded no revenue following the closure of the Casino Cosmopol operation in 2025.

For operators and suppliers, the numbers reinforce the commercial importance of scalable online products, but they do not measure the entire gambling activity of Swedish consumers. Spelinspektionen’s figures cover companies holding a Swedish licence or permit.

Growth Does Not Remove the Channelisation Challenge

The licensed market’s expansion comes as Sweden’s online gambling channelisation rate has fallen to 84%, below the government’s 90% objective. Channelisation measures the proportion of competitive gambling activity retained by licensed operators, making it distinct from regulated market GGR.

That distinction matters for B2B readers because stronger licensed GGR does not automatically prove that more consumer spending is moving onshore. Revenue performance, channelisation, compliance costs and player protection metrics must be assessed together when evaluating the health and competitiveness of Sweden’s regulated ecosystem.

At the end of Q2, just under 138,000 people were registered with the national Spelpaus self-exclusion system. That total was 0.7% lower than at the end of the previous quarter. The movement is modest, but the figure remains an important player-protection indicator as online gambling supplies an increasing share of regulated revenue.