It’s no secret that online gambling has been rising in popularity in many European countries, including Sweden. But a new report found that, despite market expansion, the country has seen a decline in problem gambling.
Authored by the economist, Ola Nevander, the study assessed decades of data and came to the conclusion that the connection between access to gambling and addiction is far more complex than what the industry already assumes.
“Despite sharply increased marketing investments, a rapidly growing product range and significantly lowered technological barriers to gambling, problem gambling at the population level has decreased,” the report states.
Seeing Long-Term Decline in Problem Gambling
The new report draws information from national prevalence studies to see how gambling behaviour changes with time. That’s how it found that the proportion of adults experiencing problem gambling decreased from 2.2% in 2008-2009 to 1.3% in 2021.
To put it into numbers, it means that tens of thousands fewer individuals are now affected by problem gambling, despite the immense growth of the industry.
The latest findings also suggest that the severe cases of problem gambling have remained stable, which implies that the most serious forms of addiction remain similar as broader risk levels are decreasing.
Meanwhile, the overall participation in gambling has cooled down. The percentage of Swedes who reported having gambled in the past year dropped from 71% in 2004 to 56% in 2022. The sharpest decrease was seen in younger demographics.
Online Gambling Booms, But No Addiction Spike
An interesting find from the report is that the explosion of Swedish online casinos has not led to a parallel rise in problem gambling. When compared to the early 2000s, the number of iGaming options has increased more than tenfold, while smartphones and easier internet access have made gambling available from essentially any place and time.
With the rise of gambling options, marketing around it has also spiked. Rough estimations suggest that spending has increased by around ninefold between 2000 and 2024. However, numbers find no connection between these developments and gambling-related harm.
“Available population data do not show any clear positive relationship between these factors and the prevalence of problem gambling,” the report claims.
Researchers say that marketing and accessibility can still influence gambling behaviour among specific demographics, but they don’t seem to drive overall addiction rates in a direct manner.
The Role of Regulated Gambling
The report also explores how regulatory frameworks and market structure influence betting behaviour among Swedes. The country launched its licensed iGaming market in 2019, with numerous operators regulated. These companies are required to implement robust consumer protection, such as self-exclusion, deposit limits, and behaviour monitoring.
“When gambling takes place with licensed operators, protective mechanisms such as duty of care, self-exclusion, and data-driven monitoring can be applied consistently,” states the report.
But the report cautioned that the efficiency of such protections is reliant on maintaining a high level of market channelisation. This essentially means that most gambling activity must happen on sites regulated to operate in the country.
In the meantime, unlicensed operators, also known as grey or black market brands, do business outside the regulatory framework. Their offerings often lack basic consumer protections, which can negatively affect players.
Fragmented Market with Uneven Protections
Furthermore, the report has outlined the increasing fragmentation of the iGaming market into three segments: regulated, grey, and black. Each of these comes with a different level of user protection, oversight, and risk.
Licensed operators must comply with the government’s strict rules, while unregulated sites often offer more appealing bonuses or fewer restrictions. This can draw players away from the regulated scene. Such a shift can undermine the country’s efforts to prevent gambling-related issues, especially if vulnerable players switch to unlawful gambling platforms.
On the topic of offshore casinos, just recently, the Swedish Gambling Authority announced a new strategy to prevent offshore operators from targeting local consumers.
Complex Causes behind Gambling Harm
The study also emphasises that problem gambling cannot be explained by a single factor, such as advertising or availability. Instead, it materialises from a complex exchange of individual vulnerabilities, social trends, and institutional conditions.
Some of the key risk factors are mental health issues, risky alcohol abuse, and negative life circumstances. Changes in these factors over time may help explain why problem gambling has declined, even as the gambling options have expanded drastically in the last decade.
The report also notes that gambling risks vary by game type. For instance,high-intensity formats such as online casinos and poker are more often associated with problem gambling, while lotteries and bingo are in the lower-risk category.
Evidence for Prevention and Treatment
Another positive discovered by the report is that certain interventions can help reduce gambling-related issues. According to the document, digital tools like self-exclusion systems and spending limits have proven to be effective, especially in the regulated sector. Psychological treatments such as cognitive behavioural therapy were also found to be influential.
“There are established tools to prevent risks and reduce problem gambling, even if knowledge remains limited in several areas,” the report notes.
Calls for Updated National Data
Still, the report has also highlighted an important gap, which is the lack of recent national data. The country’s last large-scale study on gambling behaviours was in 2021, and experts insist that an update in the data would be essential to monitor for changes in the gambling market.
“Understanding the prevalence of problem gambling in Sweden requires that the data be updated at regular and not overly distant intervals.”
Rethinking the debate
Overall, the findings from the recent report contest popular drivers of gambling addiction. Rather than a simple cause-and-effect relationship between market growth and harm, the evidence points to a more complex reality.
Nevertheless, the risks are still there, especially for vulnerable demographics, but Sweden’s model highlights the need for effective regulation, targeted interventions, and social trends. Such measures can help reduce potential harms related to the rapid growth of online casinos.
