April 29, 2009 (CAP Newswire) — Several news sources are reporting that Swedish state gambling monopoly Svenska Spel has reported weaker-than-usual revenues for its online poker division for the year 2008, including a total profit that's less than half of what it was in 2007.
In an eyebrow-raising comment, a spokesperson for the monopoly reportedly attributed the drop in revenue to “less interest in Internet poker.” If that’s true, Sweden would be one of the only countries in the Western world where that is the case.
Some may see this as an opportunity for Sweden to join the many other European nations currently are opening up online gambling to private companies. That would almost certainly be a welcome development for Nordic-based companies like Jadestone, who would stand to gain considerable market share from an opening of the Swedish market.