Just 1% of respondents said they would gamble ‘much more’ and 2% ‘a little more’, although the vast majority of respondents (78%) said increased inflation and associated hikes in the cost of living would make no difference to their gambling habits.
Across the population at large, the 2022 survey showed that 72% of Swedes had participated in some form of gambling over the past 12 months.
Of those who had played in the past 12 months, 71% said they had participated in lottery or numbers games, making this by far and away the most popular vertical for players in Sweden.
Betting on horse racing is another popular vertical, with 22% of gamblers participating the past 12 months.
Bingo and sports betting were the next most popular verticals, with 16% and 12% of gamblers.
Casino, slots and poker saw just 5%, 2% and 1% of gamblers participating in each vertical, respectively.
In addition to providing data on player numbers and habits, the SGA’s annual survey also aims to take a temperature check of the industry at large and analyse consumer sentiment towards gambling.
Perhaps worryingly, of those customers who had gambled within the past 12 months, just 10% said they knew how to identify whether or not an operator possessed a Swedish gambling licence.
Just over half (53%) of respondents said they believed there were advantages for them as players to play with a licensed operator, while 21% said they may consider gambling with unlicensed operators.
When asked whether they thought the Swedish gambling industry takes sufficient social responsibility measures, 48% of respondents said ‘no, probably not’, while a further 18% said ‘absolutely not’.
However, 29% of respondents thought the industry ‘maybe’ took sufficient social responsibility, while just 4% said it ‘absolutely’ did.
The survey did bring some positive news for the SGA, however, as it demonstrated an increase in the number of people aware of Sweden’s Spelpaus self-exclusion programme from 58% in 2021 to 61% this year.
Correspondingly, the proportion of respondents who did not know of the programme reduced from 41% to 37%, suggesting that awareness of the scheme continues to grow. Around 1% of respondents had used the service.
