Swedish Gambling Monopoly Wants Popular Games as Casino Profits Fall

The reported profits of Svenska Spel, The Swedish Gambling Monopoly, fell in 2010 to only 211 million Kronor ($32.9 million US), a 4.2% decrease from the previous year. The gross profit was 4.7 billion Kronor ($733 million US). Such low earnings are understandable due to Sweden’s ultra-high tax rates that the Socialist country’s need to support a vast safety network for the unemployed and newly arrived immigrants.

The acting president of Svenska Spel, Mr. Anders Hägg, blamed the second consecutive decline in earnings on the conditions of the internet gambling market. Mr. Hägg states in his quarterly report on the condition of the industry, that an ever increasing variety of new games and consumer preferences are responsible for the decline in earnings. He also stated that he fully supports current Swedish gambling laws and believes that liberalizing the laws will cause undesired results to the well being of citizens.

Mr. Hägg supports all measures that restrict gambling, and accepts the consequences of the drop in revenue. However he believes that the Swedish gambling market is evolving and that politicians need to look towards the future. He would like to allow developers to become innovative, under existing licenses, and begin offering new games involving new and popular forms of gambling instead of just traditional Swedish games.

The earnings projections for the current quarter show an even steeper decline of 6.8% from the same quarter of the previous year and an 11.4% decline from 2 years before. EU statistics show positive growth in the overall internet gambling industry for the development of all online casino games besides games for online casino in Sweden.

Anders Hägg says that Swedish games need to evolve to be competitive with consumers and future market needs under existing permits, but to also begin developing new popular forms of gambling. The next official meeting of Svenska Spel will be held on Tuesday 19 April at 13:00 in Visby to discuss revenue losses.