SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The Swedish government is considering the closure of the last remaining land-based casino in the country.
A newly drafted proposal will look to take away the rights of state-owned companies to run casinos. Despite being allowed in Sweden since 1994, land-based gambling is only allowed in Casino Cosmopol – a subsidiary of the national operator Svenska Spel.
Until recently, the casino had four venues in the cities of Sundsvall, Gothenburg, Malmö, and Stockholm. However, only the one in Stockholm remains.
The other three were closed – with the most recent being those in Gothenburg and Malmö – after an internal review by Svenska Spel showed that they have stopped being profitable.
This was evidenced in the financial report ending December 2023 of Spelinspektionen, Sweden’s Gambling Inspectorate, where the state casino turnover led by Svenska Spel’s Casino Cosmopol saw a decrease of 11.4%.
Net revenue from state-owned casino games in 2023 fell by 33.8% YoY to SEK 92m (£6.8m) – a significant difference from the SEK 139m (£10.2m) in 2022.
The underperformance was also recently acknowledged by Sweden’s Minister for Financial Markets, Niklas Wykman, who told news outlet Aftonbladet that “it should not be a politically mandated task for a state-owned company to run casinos.”
In a press release addressing the proposal, Svenska Spel revealed that while it shares the government’s views that running Casino Cosmopol can no longer be profitable, it will be “emotional” to partake in the bill’s passing.
Ola Enguist, CEO of Casino Cosmopol, added: “If it is adopted, it means that our last casino is closing and that an era is over.”
The proposal is expected to come into effect in January, 2026 at the earliest.
