Swedish horse race betting operator ATG has raised concerns about the significant number of locally licensed B2B providers serving the unlicensed betting market, as detailed in its latest report.
Released on Wednesday (12 March), the report revealed that Sweden’s channelization rate for Q4 2024 ranged from 69% to 82%, falling short of the official 90% target.
This comes after the implementation of a competitive licensing framework in 2019, which ATG noted has led to a tenfold surge in online gambling activity, with the offshore sector now valued at SEK 150bn (€14.5bn) annually.
Additionally, the report highlighted that 17 of Sweden’s 20 largest unlicensed gambling sites rely on the same licensed platform providers as legal operators, a situation ATG argues should not be permitted.
Hasse Lord Skarplöth, the CEO of ATG, mentioned:
It is unreasonable that such a large proportion of gambling still takes place outside the licensed system. Unlicensed gambling is a breeding ground for money laundering, but above all, Swedish players are left without protection from unscrupulous actors.
Unlicensed gambling generates an annual turnover of almost as much as the entire Swedish primary school budget.
ATG also pointed out that six of the 20 highest-traffic unlicensed gambling sites during the quarter facilitated direct deposits and withdrawals from Swedish bank accounts using BankID. Furthermore, two of these top 20 sites were explicitly listed on the Swedish gambling regulator’s roster of prohibited operators.
The ATG mentioned:
Through a better understanding of its scope and development, ATG wants to contribute to the right measures being taken so that licensed gambling can compete with unlicensed gambling and thereby increase the degree of channelisation.
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