Record numbers of Swedes go online with traditional games such as bingo leading the way
Thursday 30th August 2007
According to Swedish radio station Sveriges Radio International (SRI), record numbers of Swedes are betting ever-greater amounts of money on online gambling sites.
The State-run gambling company Svenska Spel told SRI that it is expecting a 40 per cent jump in the amount of money bet over its Internet sites by the end of the year with sports gambling firm ATG reporting a 30 per cent increase in web-based bets during the first six months of this year.
SRI said that this surge was down to Swedish betting websites extending their range of games from soccer, horse racing and poker to include more traditional games such as bingo.
As one example, Swedish gaming company Folkspel, which has seen a steady decline in its traditional scratch-card bingo games, generated $3.2 million in turnover for the first six months of this year from its web-based bingo site, which the company launched last year.
SRI stated that forecasts for this year would see record turnover for gambling companies in Sweden both over the Internet and elsewhere. It said that live coverage of horse racing, effective advertising and fierce competition between betting companies are some of the factors behind the growing popularity of gambling in Scandinavia.
According to Swedish radio station Sveriges Radio International (SRI), record numbers of Swedes are betting ever-greater amounts of money on online gambling sites.