Unlicensed gambling sites continue to attract Swedish players on a large scale, according to a new ATG report. During the fourth quarter of 2024, the reported online channelization rate, which is the proportion of gambling within the licensing system, was between 69% and 82%. This was said to be far below the government’s target of 90%.
Since the re-regulation of the gambling market in 2019, visits to unlicensed gambling sites have reportedly increased tenfold. The report estimates that today’s unlicensed market generates a gross turnover of up to 150 billion SEK ($14.7 billion) annually.
The data suggests that 17 of the 20 largest unlicensed gambling sites use the same platform providers as licensed operators, despite this not being allowed. Six of the 20 most-visited unlicensed sites during the quarter offered direct deposits and withdrawals from Swedish bank accounts via BankID. Two of these sites were included in the Swedish Gambling Authority’s blacklist.
In a statement (translated into English), ATG CEO Hasse Lord Skarplöth said: “It is unreasonable that such a large share of gambling still takes place outside the licensing system.
“Unlicensed gambling is a breeding ground for money laundering—but above all, Swedish players are left unprotected from unscrupulous operators.”
He continued, “The turnover of unlicensed gambling each year is almost as much as the entire cost of the Swedish elementary school system.”
Sweden’s National Audit Office unhappy with gambling regulation
In October, ReadWrite reported that the country’s National Audit Office (NAO) found Sweden’s Gambling Authority was not “sufficiently effective to meet the expectations expressed by the Riksdag and Government in connection with the reregulation of the gambling market.” They accused the body of conducting very few inspections and that their choice of which actors were selected for supervision “was not based on well-founded risk analyses.”
The review by the NAO added, “The shortcomings are partly due to the priorities that the Gambling Authority has chosen to make. The authority emphasizes that new government assignments and other activities crowd out the possibilities to carry out supervision to the desired extent.”
Featured image: Canva
