Part 3 : The position of the monopolies responsibility not to directly crosspromote . However , operators fear a subtler cross-pollination between the two could occur , an outcome that the finance ministry report would appear to acknowledge .
Among its recommendations for reviewing Svenska Spel ’ s performance in the period following regulation , the report suggests there should be investigations to :
Explain how the division of Svenska Spel has ( been ) implemented ;
• Review the role of the company after the division of the continuing lottery monopoly and the new online business ;
• Consider and report any additional measures considered necessary for the company to restructure ; and
• Propose any clarifications of the division of the company in the respective market segments according to the new game rules .
Back in April , Käll at Svenska Spel said : “ We are dividing the business so that the fully competitive part is clearly distinguished from the part that will continue to have exclusive rights on certain forms of gambling . We do this to comply with competition law .”
As noted in part one of this report , there are fears among the soon-to-be-licensed private operators that this division remains a less than level playing field .
Svenska Spel revenue performance 2017 Svenska Spel is already clearly a force in online . According to its 2017 annual report , total net gaming revenues hit SEK8.98bn (€ 868m ) for the year .
Of this total , the company says in its quarterly breakdown that online operations accounted for circa 25 % of the total across all products . Breaking that down further by channel , it said that across the four quarters the average desktop percentage was 10.5 %, while mobile stood at an average of close to 14 % for 2017 as a whole .
However , going by the first quarter 2018 results , the mobile
Table 7 : Svenska Spel net gaming revenue 2017
Product set NGR ( SEKbn ) Sports betting 1.79 Lottery and instants 4.84
VLTs 1.12
Land-based casino 1.13
Poker 0.1
Total 8.98
Source : Svenska Spel percentage is clearly rising steeply – up to 20 % for the first three months of the year versus 10 % for desktop . Mobile is not only growing but it would appear to be adding largely incremental growth .
Svenska Spel and poker The true anomaly in the recent story of Svenska Spel comes with the history of its online poker operation . Launched in 2006 off the back of what the company termed at the time an “ online poker boom ” in Sweden , Svenska Spel ’ s poker was such a success that on measures such as PokerScout , the site was registering as one of the top 10 in terms of global liquidity .
Of course , over the course of the intervening dozen years the popularity of poker in Sweden has waned as much as it has elsewhere . As can be seen , from a high almost immediately after launch of SEK385m (€ 37m at today ’ s exchange rate ) revenue from poker has fallen by almost three-quarters to stand at SEK101m (€ 9.8m ) in 2017 .
It is a stretch to draw too many lessons from this trajectory given the degree to which it is inevitably tied to global poker trends rather than anything country specific . However , it does point to Svenska Spel having a history ( albeit in limited circumstances ) of being able to attract new online players when it opens up with new products .
Calculating Svenska Spel ’ s online advantage : What is also clear from Svenska Spel ’ s 2016 report ( but
Sweden : The transition to regulation in one of Europe ’ s most advanced digital markets 19