The Swedish Gambling Authority has shared a new report estimating that the channelization rate with licensed operators was 85 percent in 2024.
The report highlights a largely steady channelization rate between 2023 and 2024, reporting 85 percent last year, down from 86 percent the year before. The channelization rate measures how much gambling for money takes place at gambling companies with a Swedish license within the competitive market.
Such data offers a snapshot of the gambling market, underlining the proportion of players who have played in the licensed competitive market. It’s worth noting that the degree of channeling varies between different forms of gambling. For example, online betting has a higher rate than physical casinos. On-land casinos are all set to be banned in Sweden in the coming years.
The data was gathered via player surveys and internet traffic measurement. Only a small part of the traffic to unlicensed websites includes websites that the Swedish Gambling Authority has said to be targeting Swedish users without the necessary license, according to Camilla Rosenberg, Director General of the Swedish Gambling Authority.
The importance of licensed operators
While there weren’t huge changes in the channelization rate between 2023 and 2024, the rate demonstrates the impact of the licensing system. Going back just five years before to 2019, the channelization rate was estimated to be less than 50 percent.
This stems from efforts from the Swedish Gambling Authority and the state in general to gain control over the previously unlicensed gambling across the country. The greater the rate of channelization, the more control over the gambling market there is.
Working with licensed operators is the path to protecting bettors more closely, something that’s been a priority for the Swedish authorities throughout recent years.
Featured image: Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
