After two years of decline, Swedish horse race betting monopoly operator AB Trav och Galopp (ATG) has recorded a marginal increase in its 2014 results, with turnover climbing 0.6 per cent to SEK12.2bn (€1.28bn).
ATG CEO Hasse Skarplöth said that despite only modest growth, it was “nonetheless gratifying” that the operator succeeded in reversing a downward trend, with more funds to be distributed this year to the operator’s owners, the Swedish Trotting Association and the Swedish Jockey Club.
“During my first two years at ATG, I could only talk about cost savings, so for me it’s obviously great to now be able to come to the owners with more money than the year before,” said Skarplöth. “But we are a long way from completing our journey under the ATG’s Manifesto and already in 2018, we have pledged an additional SEK300m to our shareholders. So for us at ATG is the continued hard work will continue.”
Full Year Turnover 2009-2014
| Swedish Krona (SEK) | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | |
| Turnover | 12.69bn | 12.80bn | 13.11bn | 12.42bn | 12.16bn | 12.16bn |
ATG said that its pool betting products performed well during the year, with sales of the popular V75 game climbing 1 per cent, while there were stronger performances from the V86 and V64/65 games, with sales up 8 per cent and 9 per cent respectively.
The Daily Double game saw sales fall by 4 per cent however, while the Win/Place, Trio and Gemini games also recorded year-on-year declines in sales.
Sales from international partners amounted to over SEK2.8bn during the year, an increase of approximately 6 per cent versus the previous year following growth in the Nordic region.
ATG paid out SEK8.6bn to Swedish players during the year, creating 153 millionaires in the process.
The operator said that the compared to the rest of the Swedish gaming market, ATG’s 0.6 per cent increase in turnover was a “good” figure, when several others in Sweden’s regulated market are expected to post decreases in their results for 2014.
ATG also said that operators in other big horse race betting countries in Norway, Denmark, Finland and France are likely to post huge drops in sales.
“In light of this, our result is quite okay, but I am not satisfied with this,” added Skarplöth. “We must deliver significantly better to achieve our goals.”