During 2022, ATG’s operating profit decreased by 12 percent and landed at SEK 1,686 million. It has several reasons. Part of it is that the product mix is different today than before. A larger share of our turnover now comes from sports betting and casino, and there the margins are lower than on horse betting – which is and will remain our backbone.

Worth noting, and very positively, is that we are increasing the net gaming revenue in both sports and casino. The casino is growing by a whopping 49 percent. One reason for that is that the government-imposed restrictions that existed during parts of the pandemic were removed in November 2021. Casino is increasing its share of the gaming market overall. However, it is also proof that our offer is attractive. We see that the large growth comes from the number of customers increasing – not from existing customers playing more. And precisely that is important because gambling responsibility is our most important sustainability issue. Having many customers who play for fun and feel good is absolutely central to us.

In recent years, ATG has had challenges when it came to recruiting the necessary skills quickly enough. The job market for IT skills has been overheated. This has led to increased costs due to consultant staffing. Last autumn, we made a decision to switch consultants, that is, to switch consultants for employees. This will reduce staffing costs overall in 2023 even though, hopefully, we will have more employees.

Another factor that affected the result is that we launched our soccer game Big 9. Establishing a new pool game takes time, and we have to be patient. We see that customers like Big 9 and in 2023 we will continue to focus on growing Big 9, even though this year we have reduced the overall marketing budget.

If you add up our three areas – horse, sports and casino – the net gaming revenue will be minus one percent in 2022. Worth noting is that our Danish subsidiary is growing by 45 percent. Our market share in the Swedish commercial license market is 30 percent, we are the largest company overall and we are the second largest company in sports betting.

If I look ahead, I can state that we are in for a tough year. Inflation and recession will shrink customers’ pleasure wallets. The positive thing is that we have a large and stable customer base: we have 1.3 million customers who appreciate our offer. ATG will continue to have a strong focus on costs and efficiency. In this way, we are equipped even for grim times.

I’m sure 2023 will be another step towards the world’s best – and coolest – gaming experience.

Lotta Nilsson Viitala
CFO