ATG Is Leader of Swedish Online Gaming Market in Q1

The Swedish re-regulated online gaming market has generated a turnover of $352.8 million in the first three months after the launch.

According to figures posted by Sweden’s gambling regulator Spelinspektionen, the former horse racing monopoly ATG has been dominating the country’s market.

Impressive Results for the Former Monopoly

Online gaming turnover reached $120 million in January, before slightly going down to $116.8 in February, staying flat in March.

ATG generated $114.5 million in turnover during the first quarter of 2019. Turnout in January reached $37.3 million, dropping to $34.2 million in February and jumping to $42.96 million in March.

Svenska Spel Sport & Casino recorded turnover of $61.6 million during this period: $20.1 million in January, $20.5 million in February and $21 million in March. When combined, the two companies’ turnover represents 50% of the entire Swedish market. All other licensed operators – 60 of them – recorded the remaining first quarter turnover of $175.1 million. January and February turnover was $122.4 million, with $52.7 million generated in March.

The figures haven’t been broken down by operator, but it has been revealed that 85% of total turnover was generated by 10 operators, including Svenska Spel and ATG.

The Operator’s Dominance Could Come to an End

However, the dominance of ATG has been challenged by the association of Swedish operators, Branschföreningen för onlinespel (BOS), which has even filed an official complaint to the country’s Competition Authority.

According to BOS, ATG has maintained a monopoly on horse racing betting and though the company has agreed on liquidity sharing for internationally licensed operators, such as Norsk Rikstoto, Danske Spil and Pari-Mutuel Urbain, it has refused to share pool liquidity with Sweden-based operators Betsson and Kindred Group.

Commenting on this situation, BOS secretary general Gustaf Hoffstedt said that treating gaming companies so differently from a dominant position represented an abuse and violated competition law. Hoffsted explained that BOS had filed a complaint with the Swedish Competition Authority with the request that the pools be opened up to more operators.

A complaint BOS made earlier over Svenska Spel’s lottery monopoly to promote online gambling products has forced the operator to change its advertising strategy.