Svenska Spel president and CEO Anna Johnson said the Swedish operator is "seeing the results” of its recent restructuring as operating profit climbed by 17 per cent.
The operating profit of SEK640m (£46.5m) in the period between January and June this year rose by SEK 91m (£6.6m) from SEK550m (£39.9m) over the same period last year.
Svenska Spel has undergone an overhaul of many of its operations this year, including the closure of its casinos in Malmö and Gothenburg.
This has led to lower costs and an improved operating margin of 34 per cent, up from 28 per cent. It gives Svenska Spel “an opportunity to invest in transformation, strengthened gambling responsibility work and investments that create growth,” Johnson said.
In the short term, Svenska Spel’s net gaming revenue in the latest period dropped five per cent or SEK95m (£6.9m) year-on-year to SEK1.87bn (£135.8m), down from SEK1.97bn (£143.1m).
Revenue in the Casino Cosmopol business area declining by 72 per cent, or SEK90m (£6.5m), played its part, as did “strengthened gambling responsibility measures that have a negative impact on revenue for all business areas, but have the intended positive effect on healthy revenue,” Svenska Spel said.
The net gaming revenue for the Sport & Casino business area dropped two per cent and while Euro 2024 had a “positive impact” on revenues, it did not compensate for the “negative impact of strengthened gambling liability during the quarter.”
Eurojackpot continues to drive growth in the Tur business area, where revenue grew by three per cent.
Online business as a whole increased by eight per cent in the latest period and currently accounts for 59 per cent of the group’s revenue.
Svenska Spel said its new sports betting platform under the Oddset brand, launched at the end of May, has been “well-received” by customers, who are now being offered “a better customer experience and new gaming opportunities.”
