ATG bemoans Sweden’s tax rise amid modest 2024 revenue gains

ATG has recorded full-year 2024 net revenue of SEK5.4bn (£400m), representing a 1.9% increase on the previous year, the operator announced in its latest earnings presentation.

Meanwhile, operating profit for the year remained flat at SEK1.8bn, slightly increasing by 1.1% on 2023’s total.   

Breaking down the business by vertical, horseracing revenue for the year came to SEK3.9bn, remaining unchanged from the previous year.  

Sports betting revenue rose 8% year on year (YoY) to SEK778m, while casino revenue increased by the same percentage YoY to SEK689m.  

ATG’s total costs for the year came to SEK4.4bn, up from SEK4.2bn in 2023, with gambling tax a major contributor to increased costs – rising SEK147m YoY. 

Indeed, management said the Swedish government raising the tax on gross gambling revenue (GGR) from 18% to 22%, as of 1 July 2024, had resulted in “a significant increase in costs”.

ATG reiterated its call for betting, including horseracing, to be taxed at 18% and commercial gaming to hand over 26% of GGR.

Furthermore, ATG CEO Hasse Lord Skarplöth pointed to 2024 being a “turbulent environment” as average customer spending decreased, partly due to the recession in Sweden as well as “high household costs with high interest rates”.  

However, the former monopoly horseracing operator also reported a small increase in its number of active customers, rising from 1.3 million in 2023 to 1.4 million in 2024.  

“This shows that our offering of exciting, fair and smooth gaming experiences is strong,” the CEO said.

Elsewhere, personnel costs amounted to SEK648m, while depreciation costs added a further SEK309m. ‘Other’ costs came to SEK2.3bn.  

ATG, which turned 50 in 2024, also reported that 89% of its revenue came from “green” (healthy) customers, with 81% of turnover coming from these players.  

This calculation was based on the operator’s ‘self-testing’ of 219,000 Swedish customers.

ATG’s chief financial officer Lotta Nilsson Viitala praised the company for maintaining its performance from the previous year despite the tax increase.

She said: “It is gratifying that we can deliver the same results as for 2023 despite the increased gambling tax in 2024. Being an efficient company and having a high result is important to us as our entire surplus goes to our owners, Svensk Travsport and Svensk Galopp.  

“It is very pleasing that the number of customers is increasing during the year. ATG has many committed customers and it is very important to us that our customers feel good about their gaming. We are therefore continuing to develop our responsible gaming work.” 

ATG recently released its bi-annual responsible gambling statistics for the Swedish market, which found that high-risk players cut their gambling spend by an average of 66% after being contacted by the operator.  

Meanwhile, in January, ATG was ordered to pay SEK10m in legal fees after it had a lawsuit overturned in Sweden’s Patent and Market Court of Appeal.  

The operator had previously filed a patent infringement suit against clothing brand LeeWrangler Sweden, Swedish retailer Dressmann and US-based denim brand Wrangler Apparel. 

The post ATG bemoans Sweden’s tax rise amid modest 2024 revenue gains first appeared on EGR Intel.

 Horseracing operator posts 1.9% year-on-year rise in net revenue, yet points to “significant increase in costs” from the GGR tax hike and challenges of the country’s recession
The post ATG bemoans Sweden’s tax rise amid modest 2024 revenue gains first appeared on EGR Intel.