Svenska Spel Profit Cut by Poker & Bingo Slump
26th October 2009 8:37 am GMT
Sweden's Svenska Spel has reported net gaming revenues of SEK5.86 billion for the nine month period ended September 30th 2009, a fall of 1% versus the same period last year, with revenues from the monopoly operator's internet division falling 6.4% to SEK879 million for the same period.
The company attributed the fall in online revenues to the introduction of mandatory weekly spending limits for customers, which it said had particularly impacted online poker and bingo spend.
In the first nine months of 2009, Svenska Spel's internet division recorded an 18.2% fall in online poker revenues and a 19.8% fall in online bingo revenues, while revenues from online lottery games decreased by 11.1% versus the same period last year.
Numbers games excluding bingo and sports betting were the only online games to increase revenues with year-on-year growth of 8.8% and 1.1% respectively.
For the nine month period, Svenska Spel reported a net profit of SEK3.61 billion, down 5.1% versus the same period last year, with an online net profit of SEK535 million, a fall of 14%.
With the fall in revenues, Svenska Spel estimates that its share of the Swedish gambling market has now decreased to approximately 20%, its lowest level ever.
