Swedish Casinos Online

Want the best online casinos in Sweden? Below is our expert selection of Swedish-friendly casino sites with smooth payments and responsible play tools.

Following the implementation of the new gambling regime in Sweden on January 1, 2019, via the Swedish Gambling Act (SFS 2018:1138), the local industry was subjected to reregulation, resulting in more operators obtaining licenses to operate legally in the country.

Spelinspektionen, the Swedish Gambling Authority, is the state-owned regulator of the industry in the Nordic country, empowered to monitor the safety and legality of the market. It strives to provide local players with the tools and mechanisms necessary for transparent gaming by ensuring a well-balanced market while simultaneously minimizing the potential harmful impact of gambling. The adjustments to the gambling regime are grounded in a licensing system, requiring all gambling companies to hold a license from the state regulator.

Most Popular Swedish Casinos

The team at Casino Games Pro has conducted extensive research on online casinos catering to Swedish players and has compiled a list of premier operators offering interactive casino games.

We have thoroughly investigated key aspects of their operations, including the variety of their gaming catalogs, supported payment and withdrawal methods, and customer support. We also provide useful information on their promotional offers, minimum deposit requirements, and game diversity, offering players a shortcut to their favorite interactive entertainment.

History and Legal Landscape of Online Gambling in Sweden

Presently, both interactive and land-based gambling activities are authorized in Sweden, with residents able to bet on a variety of products, including bingo, arcades, scratch cards, lotteries, and poker, among others. Under its section dedicated to licensed iGaming and sports-betting operators, Spelinspektionen lists more than 100 providers of gambling services. However, the state of the gambling industry was quite different before the reregulation of the Swedish gambling market took place in 2019.

Before the Swedish Gambling Act came into force on January 1, 2019, the market operated under a state monopoly. From the beginning of 2019, Sweden abandoned the monopoly model and switched to a licensing system.

Until then, all gambling-related activities in the country were monopolized and under the control of the Swedish National Lottery, commonly known as Svenska Spel, which was fully owned and backed by the state. While the legislative framework created the impression that Sweden was home to a regulated and open gambling market, in practice Svenska Spel was the only company granted a license to offer gambling services to residents.

There are two important pieces of legislation related to online gambling in Sweden, the first being the 1994 Lotteries Act. It covers an extensive range of gambling products, including slot machines, bingo, lotteries, dice games, and traditional table games such as roulette and poker. This legislation empowers the Swedish Gambling Authority to grant licenses to land-based and online gambling operators.

This regulatory body is also responsible for ensuring the aforementioned games are run fairly and in compliance with its guidelines. Gambling-related games can be offered only after they are approved by state-owned bodies like Svenska Spel or the Swedish Gambling Authority. According to the provisions of the Lotteries Act, advertising lotteries and casino games offered by foreign gambling operators is illegal.

Another important piece of legislation is the Casinos Act, which came into force in 1999 and introduced additional regulations concerning dice and card games. However, these regulations applied predominantly to brick-and-mortar gambling establishments. The Casinos Act outlined gambling age limits and prohibited land-based venues from issuing credit to their customers.

The year 2002 saw the introduction of an amendment to the 1994 Lotteries Act. Its purpose was to update the legislation so that it covered online gambling as well. This amendment allowed Svenska Spel to offer Swedish players online casino games, making it the only licensed interactive gambling provider in the country. In 2006, Svenska Spel received another license allowing it to become the sole provider of online poker services.

The Swedish government justified the monopolization of the online gambling sector with the argument that it protected players against unreliable gambling platforms. Lawmakers also contended that monopolization would reduce the social harms associated with pathological gambling.

In the summer of 2010, the European Court of Justice sided with Sweden, backing its ban on the advertisement of online gambling. The ruling followed protests by two of Sweden’s largest newspapers against fines imposed for publishing advertisements promoting foreign-based online gambling operators.

Controlling the monopolized sector came with certain disadvantages for Svenska Spel. The operator was subjected to burdensome regulations that made it nearly impossible to compete with foreign gambling providers. For example, the company was permitted to offer online poker, but its license restricted the service to Swedish players only. Needless to say, this negatively affected prize-pool accumulation, as fewer players contributed buy-ins. Consequently, many Swedes preferred foreign operators that offered larger gaming libraries, bigger pools, and better sports-betting odds.

Such operators held licenses from other respected and stringent jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom, Malta, and Gibraltar. Because these foreign operators are based in countries where online gambling is fully legal, they are under no obligation to comply with other nations’ legislation—especially if that legislation violates European Union trade agreements, as Sweden’s once did.

Indeed, there were plenty of options for Swedes who wished to bet by registering at foreign gambling websites. A large number of licensed, secure, and fair operators—including giants like William Hill, bet365, and 888casino—catered to Swedish players by offering transactions in SEK and several flexible payment methods. Further convenience came from the ability to load major gambling websites in Swedish.

More importantly, Swedish players were not prosecuted if they joined foreign-based gambling sites. As in many other countries, Sweden’s stringent laws applied predominantly to individuals and privately owned businesses offering gambling services, so there were no repercussions for ordinary players.

Nowadays, the official website of the Swedish gambling regulator provides updated information on licensed operators, which players can find at https://www.spelinspektionen.se/sok-licens/. It includes both local businesses and international operators. Land-based gambling, however, is restricted to four locations across the country, run by the company Casino Cosmopol.