If you ever dreamed of gambling the night away in a casino in Stockholm, Sweden, you’d better do it soon. Earlier this week Swedish lawmakers in the Riksdag voted to shutter the Casino Cosmopol, the country’s sole, land-based casino. It’s a move that marks the end of an era in Sweden and reflects the larger, long-term trend of European governments getting out of the casino monopoly business entirely.
The Casino Cosmopol has long been Sweden’s only land-based casino and, at one point, there were as many of four of them in the country. Now lawmakers in the Riksdag say that the casinos are no longer seeing a profit and aren’t popular enough to maintain.
Not surprisingly, the rise of online gambling was cited as the main culprit in the demise of land-based Casinos in the Nordic country. Even Casino Cosmopol CEO Ola Enquist agreed that the Casino Cosmopol had outlived it usefulness saying, “We share the government’s assessment and have been prepared for the Riksdag’s decision,” Enquist said. “Nevertheless, it is of course emotionally tough because it means that an era will end when the casino in Stockholm eventually closes. Our focus right now is to support our employees, and at the same time stay open and continue to take care of our guests.”
It is, however, unclear when the final Casino Cosmopol will actually be closed as lawmakers also said that the Stockholm location would remain open indefinitely while the liquidation of the organization’s assets moves forward, according to a press release from the Riksdag.