Sweden Closes Land-Based Casinos

Sweden's parliament, the Riksdag, has officially decided to end the country's land-based casino industry by dissolving Svenska Spel's last remaining casino in Stockholm, the capital.

Casino Cosmopol, a state-owned enterprise, closed its casinos in Gothenburg and Malmö in February 2024, leaving Stockholm as its last operating venue. However, the Stockholm casino will also close on January 1, 2026, effectively ending Sweden's involvement with land-based casinos. This closure occurs six years after Sweden legalized online casino gambling. The move away from traditional casinos wasn't solely due to the online gambling legalization. Despite warnings of job losses and closures from Svenska Spel and Casino Cosmopol, the Swedish population had already shifted towards interactive entertainment, marked by growing engagement with unregulated and offshore gambling sites before 2019. The industry's regulation allowed Sweden to oversee and control it more effectively. Over time, Casino Cosmopol came to be viewed as outdated, with the government noting the brand's struggles to turn a profit as fewer people chose in-person gambling experiences.

Svenska Spel CEO Ola Enquist acknowledged that closing Casino Cosmopol would be an emotional event. The main focus now is to assist the remaining 240 employees in transitioning to new career opportunities. Casino Cosmopol's closure marks the end of an era, despite the Stockholm location opening only in 2003. The Swedish casino initiative lasted just over two decades before the country decisively moved toward an online-only gambling model, taking its own unique path in gambling regulation.