Best online sportsbooks in Sweden | Internet betting in Sweden | Bet on sports in Sweden
Yes, you can bet online legally in Sweden, as long as the sportsbook holds a licence from Spelinspektionen, the national gambling regulator. The online sportsbook sites in Sweden are available for locals, and there is an offshore market in the grey area, where player protection does not exist, yet the government still provides help if needed nonetheless. It’s fair for me to say that this is the typical Swedish attitude towards everything; they are supportive of their people, while trying to establish an economic structure of well-being.
A Swedish licence is required for any site aiming at Swedish players. Winnings from licensed sites are tax-free. And each licensee can give you one bonus only, the first time you play. According to the Spelinspektionen, the Gambling Act contains almost all laws and rules.
Reviewing Swedish Sportsbook Laws And Policies
| Topic |
The rule |
Where it comes from |
| Legal status |
Legal at licensed operators |
Gambling Act (2018:1138) |
| Regulator |
Spelinspektionen (Swedish Gambling Authority) |
Gambling Act |
| Licence needed for sports betting |
Betting licence, open to any qualifying company |
Gambling Act, Chapter 8 |
| Minimum age |
18 |
Gambling Act, chapter 14 |
| Tax on player winnings |
None at licensed sites. 30% on net winnings over SEK 100 at unlicensed sites targeting Sweden |
Skatteverket guidance |
| Operator tax |
22% of gambling revenue, up from 18% on 1 July 2024 |
Gambling tax rules |
| Bonuses |
Only at the first occasion a player plays with that licensee |
Chapter 14, section 9 |
| Deposit limit |
Must be set before playing online |
Chapter 14, section 7 |
| National self-exclusion |
Spelpaus.se: 10 days, 1, 3 or 6 months, or until further notice |
Chapter 14 and Spelpaus.se |
| Betting on credit |
Banned, including credit from third parties, since 1 May 2026 |
Amended Gambling Act |
| Playing at unlicensed sites |
Not a crime for the player in itself, but winnings can be taxed and you lose all Swedish protections |
See the section on penalties below |
| Promoting unlicensed gambling |
A criminal offence |
Gambling Act, chapter 19 |
What Changed In 2026
This was the busiest year for Swedish gambling law since the market opened. Four changes are worth knowing about.
The Credit Ban
According to the Riksdag, licence holders and betting agents may neither allow nor contribute to the financing of gambling with credit, and the new act took effect on 1 May 2026. Operators couldn't lend to you before, but your credit card company could. Now that door is shut as well.
The Spelpaus Technical Rules
According to European Gaming, a new regulation effective 1 August 2026 gives each licensee its own credentials for checking the self-exclusion register, and keeps the licence holder responsible even when an outside provider runs the check. You won't notice any of this as a player. Good. That's how it should work.
The Fee Changes
According to Focus Gaming News, supervision fees moved on 1 March 2026 to SEK 240,000 per online casino or betting licence, and SEK 16,500 for a gambling software permit. The fee now follows each licence rather than each corporate group, so a company holding both licences pays twice.
Stronger Enforcement
According to SBC News, Spelinspektionen also gained expanded powers to sanction companies and revoke licences from 1 January 2026. And the pending stuff? According to Gambling Insider, the trade body BOS has been pushing for reform, including a rethink of the bonus restrictions, because of how the casino side keeps underperforming. That's lobbying, not law. I wouldn't plan around it until a bill actually appears.
Is Online Sports Betting Legal In Sweden?
Yes. Betting online is legal for adults in Sweden, and the legal burden sits almost entirely on the operator, not on you.
The Licence System In Plain English
The Gambling Act replaced a near-monopoly with a licensing model. Any company offering gambling to the Swedish market needs a licence, wherever the company is based. A Maltese company can hold one. Plenty do.
The law splits gambling into categories, and only some are open to competition:
- State lotteries and slot machines outside casinos: reserved for the state.
- Lotteries for public benefit: reserved for Swedish charities and non-profits.
- Betting: open to any qualifying company. This is the one that matters on this page.
- Commercial online gambling: open, covers online casino, bingo and slots.
- Land-based commercial and ship gambling: open, smaller niches.
One old idea needs killing here. Horse betting is no longer a monopoly. ATG, owned by the Swedish trotting and galloping bodies, still dominates it, but betting on horses now falls under the same open betting licence as football. How does the law decide whether a foreign site is aiming at Sweden? It looks at signals like Swedish-language content and SEK payments. A site doing that without a licence is breaking Swedish rules, whatever its footer says about Curaçao.
The Regulator: Spelinspektionen
Spelinspektionen was called Lotteriinspektionen until the new act arrived. It issues the licences, supervises them, handles anti-money-laundering oversight of licensees, and runs Spelpaus. According to Spelinspektionen, the betting licence covers online and other betting, including horses, and companies without a Swedish licence are meant to be shut out of the market altogether.
Suspected crimes go to the police and prosecutors, since the regulator doesn't run criminal investigations itself. Peter Knutsson took over as director general in August 2026. It's early, so I won't pretend to know how he'll run the place.
iGaming Licences in Sweden
This confuses people, so quickly. Sportsbooks need a betting licence. Online casinos need a commercial online gambling licence. A company offering both needs both, which is why many familiar brands hold two.
According to Gambling Maps, a combined application costs SEK 230,000, and with two annual supervision fees of SEK 240,000 each, the first-year fixed cost comes to about SEK 710,000. The 22% gambling tax on revenue comes on top. Licences run for up to five years.
Suppliers aren't exempt anymore either. Since 1 July 2023, companies making or supplying gambling software for the Swedish market have needed a B2B licence of their own. Why should a bettor care? Because it means the platform behind your sportsbook is within the regulator's reach too.
Can Players Be Penalised For Gambling?
Not really, no. Swedish law targets those who provide or promote unlawful gambling, and I know of no realistic scenario where a Swede gets prosecuted for placing a bet. But that's not the same as having no consequences. Bet at an unlicensed site targeting Sweden, and you may owe tax on your winnings; you have no Swedish regulator to complain to, and Spelpaus won't reach you.
Offshore And Unlicensed Sites
The first is legal. Promoting unlicensed gambling aimed at Sweden is itself an offence, and affiliates and influencers have been in the firing line, with a conviction reported as recently as March 2026. The second is you. Offshore sites sell big bonuses and no limits, and they don't check Spelpaus. According to Intergame, the top reason players give for using illegal operators is that they are, or were, self-excluded. So part of this market exists because it lets people get around a safety net they signed up for themselves.
According to iGaming Business, the regulator estimated overall channelisation at 84% in 2025 and counted 2,186 active gambling websites without Swedish licences at the end of April, most of them casinos. The same regulator's report put sports betting at 96%, against 81% for online casinos.
Do You Pay Tax On Betting Winnings In Sweden?
No, not at a licensed site. According to Skatteverket, a gambling win is tax-free when the game requires a Swedish licence and the operator has one, or when the win is SEK 100 or less. No declaration, no paperwork. The trouble starts offshore. If a site targets Sweden without a licence, you declare net winnings over SEK 100 in your income tax return, and capital income tax is 30%.
Net means your wins minus your stakes over the calendar year, per operator. You can't offset a loss at one site against a win at another. You'll see websites advertising EU-licensed sites as tax-free. Be careful with that. The EEA exemption covers games provided in another EEA country that don't need a Swedish licence, such as a bet you place while actually in Paris. A Malta-licensed site speaking Swedish and taking SEK doesn't fit that description comfortably.
Swedish Betting Culture, Lingo And Quirks
Sweden has bet on football for over ninety years, and for most of that time the state ran the counter. That history explains a lot about how Swedes bet today.
Local Gambling Culture
Betting here doesn't carry the back-alley smell it has in some countries. It grew up respectable. State-run, tax-funded, sold at the corner shop along with your evening paper. Filling in a Stryktipset coupon on a Saturday was (and for many people still is) about as scandalous as buying a lottery ticket.
Stryktipset är en institution. You predict 1, X or 2 on thirteen matches, and thirteen right is the dream. For decades those matches were mostly English, which is a big part of why Swedes care so much about the Premier League. Swedish public television even showed English league games on Saturdays from 1969 under the name Tipsextra, tied directly to the pools. A whole country's football taste, shaped partly by a betting coupon.
Then there are hockey nights. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday in winter, the SHL takes over, and betting on it feels more local and more emotional than picking a Premier League fixture ever does. Add trotting on Saturdays with V75, and you've basically got the Swedish weekend.
Local Gambling Lingo
| Swedish term |
What it means |
| Spelbolag |
Gambling company, a bookmaker |
| Insats |
Stake |
| Insättning / uttag |
Deposit / withdrawal |
| Odds |
Same word, always shown in decimal format |
| Singel |
Single bet |
| Kombi |
Accumulator, a parlay |
| Spik |
A banker, one pick you lock in on a coupon |
| Halvgardering |
Covering two of three outcomes on a match |
| Helgardering |
Covering all three outcomes |
| Rad |
One line on a coupon |
| Tretton rätt |
Thirteen correct, the Stryktipset jackpot |
| Skräll |
An upset |
| Omsättningskrav |
Wagering requirement |
| Spelgräns |
Gambling limit |
| Spelpaus |
The national self-exclusion register |
BankID Everywhere
Swedes use BankID for banking, taxes, and healthcare, so of course they use it to log in to a sportsbook. Sign-up often takes a minute. The flip side is that identity isn't optional. Nobody is betting here under a made-up name.
The Mandatory Deposit Limit
You have to set one before you can play. Daily, weekly, and monthly. You can pick a high number; nobody stops you at the door, but a raised limit doesn't kick in immediately, while a lowered one does. I've come around to this rule. It's mildly annoying once, then you forget about it.
The One-Bonus Rule
One bonus per licensee, at your first occasion of play. No reloads, no weekend free bets, no birthday treats. See the bonus section below.
No VIP Clubs
According to Domstol.se, one operator's case at the Linköping administrative court began with a SEK 500,000 sanction from the regulator for running VIP and loyalty programmes. If you've been used to a personal account manager somewhere else, that person doesn't exist here. I don't miss them.
Missing Markets
Some player-level markets you'd find elsewhere aren't offered, since Swedish rules restrict betting on things like an individual player getting booked, and on matches where most participants are under 18. It's an integrity measure, aimed at the kind of bet that's easy to fix.
A Short History Of Swedish Betting
1934
AB Tipstjänst starts up, and Stryktipset is born, largely to keep Swedish football betting money from flowing abroad. The state took over the company in 1943.
1974 to 1993
ATG was founded in 1974 to run horse betting, and V75 arrived in 1993. It's still the biggest thing in Swedish racing.
1997
Svenska Spel was formed that year by merging Tipstjänst and Penninglotteriet, the state's lottery arm. For two more decades, Svenska Spel and ATG are the only legal shops in town, while Swedes increasingly bet online with foreign sites anyway.
2019
The Gambling Act takes effect on 1 January. The monopoly ends for online betting and casinos; foreign operators can get licences, and Spelpaus launches.
2020 and 2021
Temporary pandemic rules cap online deposits at SEK 5,000 a week for casino play. They were never made permanent, which annoyed some and relieved others.
2023 and 2024
Software suppliers come under a B2B licence in July 2023. The gambling tax goes from 18% to 22% in July 2024.
2026
The full credit ban arrives in May, with tighter Spelpaus technical rules in August. And there's the new 10-day self-exclusion option too.
So ninety-odd years, and the arc is pretty clear. Sweden went from keeping betting under state control to letting anyone in and controlling them with rules instead. Whether that's worked is a real debate, though it's clearly worked better for sports than for casinos.
Sports Swedes Bet On
Football and ice hockey carry Swedish betting, with horse racing as a world of its own beside them. The online sports betting tips are all about these sports!
Football
This sport makes the online sportsbook news the loudest in Sweden. The Premier League is the default choice. Saturday afternoon, English football, the same ritual going back to the pools. Allsvenskan runs roughly April to November, which helpfully fills the gap while the big European leagues are off.
It's also where I'd spend a bit of time if I were looking for an edge, since bookmakers put far less effort into pricing a mid-table Allsvenskan match than a Manchester derby. No promises, though. Thin markets also come with lower limits and wider margins, so you might pay for that edge up front. Compare prices, because the spread between sites is often bigger than in top European leagues.
Ice Hockey
Hockey is the sport that makes Swedish sportsbooks different from British or German ones. The SHL season runs from September into spring playoffs. Local rivalries are intense, arenas are loud, and a good book will give you more than a moneyline on it. Check for period betting, goalscorer markets, and team totals on every SHL game, not only the headline ones.
The NHL matters too, partly because of how many Swedes play in it. The catch is the clock. Games start late at night or in the small hours Swedish time, so a lot of NHL betting here is done before bed, and pre-match, with nobody awake to react to a late line change. You might want to think about that before you stake on a game you won't be watching.
Why Hockey Markets Behave Differently From Football
The first trap is the three-way line. Standard 1X2 hockey markets usually settle on regulation time only, sixty minutes. If your team wins in overtime and you back them 1X2, you lose. Moneyline markets that include overtime are a different bet at a different price. People get burned on this every season. Read which one you're clicking.
Totals behave differently too. Lines cluster around 5.5 goals, and empty-net goals in the last two minutes can flip an under to an over from nowhere. A team trailing by one pulls its goalie, the other team scores into the open net, and your bet is gone at 19:12 of the third. It feels personal. It isn't.
Horse Racing And V75
Trotting is massive in Sweden, in a way that surprises most visitors. ATG is owned by the Swedish trotting and galloping associations, and its profits go back into the sport. V75 is the flagship: seven races, usually on a Saturday, pick the winner of each, and share a pool with everyone else who got them right. Wednesday V86 and the other multi-race games sit alongside it.
Pool betting is a different animal from fixed odds. You aren't betting against a bookmaker's price; you're betting against other people, and the payout depends on how many of them agreed with you. Big favourites pay little. That's why experienced players build reduced systems and spend a long time deciding on their pick, the one horse they'll trust alone in a race.
Handball, Tennis, Esports And The Rest
Handball has real support and spikes hard around men's and women's major tournaments, where Sweden tends to be competitive. It's also fun to bet live, since scoring is so frequent. Tennis gets steady year-round action, helped by the old Borg and Edberg nostalgia and by sheer volume of matches. Biathlon and cross-country skiing get serious attention in winter, because of course they do. This is Sweden. Golf too, on the big weeks.
Esports deserves a word of its own, since Sweden has a long Counter-Strike history. Licensed sites offer it, usually on the bigger tournaments. Keep an eye out for the skin betting side of this world, though. According to Next.io, illegal skin betting sites drew the largest share of unlicensed gambling traffic in the regulator's figures. Those are not sportsbooks in any sense you'd want. Stay away from them.
Bet Types Swedes Use
These are fairly common as most European offshore sites, but it's important to know them before you'd wager on something.
Single
One bet, one outcome. Unfashionable, and in my opinion underrated, because it's the only bet where you pay the margin once.
Kombi
The accumulator. Everyone loves them, and sportsbooks love them even more. The margin compounds. Four legs at a 5% margin each leaves you facing around 18.5% on the whole slip, which is a brutal number when you see it written down. Fun for a small stake on a Saturday. A bad way to try and make money.
System
Multiple combinations from a set of picks, so one miss doesn't kill everything. If you grew up with Stryktipset, system thinking probably comes naturally. Just remember you're buying more lines, and more lines cost more stake.
Live
Betting during the match. Hockey and handball are particularly good for it because the game state changes so quickly. It's also the bet most likely to run away from you, so set your limits sober and before kick-off.
Payment Methods For Swedish Sportsbooks
Most Swedish bettors pay straight from a bank account, using Swish or a BankID-based bank payment, and since May 2026, anything funded by credit is off the table at licensed sites.
| Method |
Deposit |
Withdrawal |
Allowed at licensed sites? |
Keep in mind |
| Swish |
Instant |
Only at some operators |
Yes |
Not every site pays out to Swish |
| Trustly / Pay N Play |
Instant |
Yes, back to your bank |
Yes |
Overdraft-linked accounts may raise questions |
| Zimpler |
Instant |
Yes, at most sites offering it |
Yes |
Less widely offered than Trustly |
| Brite |
Instant |
Yes, at most sites offering it |
Yes |
Less widely offered than Trustly |
| Debit card |
Instant |
Yes, usually slower |
Yes |
Credit and charge cards gets refused |
| E-wallets |
Instant |
Yes, where offered |
Yes, without deferred payment |
Thin availability, may be excluded from the bonus |
| Prepaid vouchers |
Instant |
No, needs a second method |
Rarely offered |
Redflag even at offshore sites |
| Bank transfer |
Slow |
Yes |
Yes |
Mostly unnecessary now |
| Credit card, BNPL, loans |
Not available |
Not available |
No, banned. |
I wouldn’t recommend trying it even at offshore sites |
| Crypto |
Not available |
Not available |
Not offered at licensed books we've checked |
The favorite at offshore sites |
Online Sports Betting Sites Accepting SEK
The new licensees are willing to attract Swedish players, whose interests are also in placing a bet using their currency, as it allows them to better manage their funds. This is why the majority of the operators are online sports betting sites accepting SEK.
Swish
Swish is the app every Swede has, used for splitting a restaurant bill as much as for shopping, and it moves money directly from your bank account. Deposits take seconds, confirmed with BankID. The bit that's often oversold is withdrawals. Paying into a site by Swish doesn't guarantee getting paid back by Swish. Some operators do; others send your money through a bank payout instead. If that matters to you, check before you deposit, not after you've won.
Trustly And Pay N Play
Trustly is a bank payment. You log in to your bank through the Trustly screen and approve the transfer, no card involved. Pay N Play is the sign-up shortcut built on top of it, where your identity and deposit are handled in one step, and the site builds your account from your banking details.
Don't confuse no registration with no checks, though. A Swedish Pay N Play site still knows exactly who you are, still applies Spelpaus and still needs your deposit limit. It's only the form that disappeared.
BankID
People get this wrong all the time, including some betting sites. BankID doesn't move money. It proves who you are. When you see it during a deposit, it's just confirming your identity to your bank or to Swish. You'll also see adverts pushing casinos and betting sites without BankID. In practice, that usually means sites without a Swedish licence. Treat it as a warning label.
Zimpler And Brite
These are both Swedish fintechs doing broadly what Trustly does: bank payments with BankID confirmation. Zimpler used to be known for mobile billing and invoice-style payment, and older guides still describe it that way. It dropped that model back in 2020. Is there a real difference between the three for a bettor? Hardly. Use whichever your site offers and pays out the fastest.
Debit Cards, E-wallets And Prepaid
Visa and Mastercard debit cards work at many licensed sites, though payouts tend to take longer than bank-based methods. Our old guide said cards were accepted everywhere. That's no longer a safe claim, because operators now have to filter out credit cards, and they don't all do it gracefully. If your card gets declined, this is probably why.
E-wallets like Skrill and Neteller are far less common here than in other markets, simply because Swedes don't need them. According to SCCG, operators must also block external payment providers such as e-wallets from offering deferred payment. Prepaid vouchers like Paysafecard are deposit-only, and I rarely see the point of them with a verified BankID account anyway.
Credit Cards And Buy Now Pay Later
Credit cards, overdrafts, personal loans and buy-now-pay-later are all out. The European Gaming piece I cited above notes that licensees must refuse any deposit traceable to borrowed funds, which goes further than the UK's 2020 credit card ban. Sweden is the home of Klarna, so this was hardly a theoretical issue.
I'll give you my view. Betting with borrowed money is the fastest way I know to turn a hobby into a debt, so I'm glad this one passed. There are honest questions about how well any operator can trace an overdraft on a normal bank account, and the industry has raised them. But the aim is hard to argue with.
Crypto
We haven't seen a Swedish-licensed sportsbook that takes crypto, and I don't expect one soon. A licensee has to know its customer, check the source of funds, and now keep credit out of the system, and crypto is awkward for all three.
Sites that do take Bitcoin from Swedish players are, as a rule, unlicensed here. Which brings back everything in the offshore section: no Spelpaus, no Spelinspektionen, possible tax on your winnings, and no one to call when a withdrawal goes missing. We don't list them. That's the caveat, and it's a big one. For sites accepting crypto, take a look at our online sportsbook reviews in Sweden.
Bonuses And Promotions In Sweden
At the first occasion you play with that licensee. After that, the promotions page should be pretty quiet. The online sportsbook bonuses are more competitive on the offshore sites, and this is exactly why most Swedish players still won’t play at the national level.
The One-bonus Rule
The rule sits in chapter 14, section 9 of the Gambling Act. According to DLA Piper, the definition of a bonus covers any discount or similar financial incentive directly linked to the game, and the law firm describes that wording as vague enough to have divided the industry.
Reload offers, recurring cashback, loyalty points and free bets for returning players have all been treated as off limits, and companies have paid fines for testing it. Two practical details. The rule applies per licensee, not per brand, so sister brands under one licence won't necessarily give you a second bite. And a welcome offer you skip is gone, because your first occasion only comes once.
Wagering Requirements And Terms To Read
The online sportsbook promotions all have this as a feature. A wagering requirement tells you how much you need to bet before a bonus turns into cash. Read these before you click, and yes, I know nobody does:
- Wagering multiple: whether it's on the bonus alone or on bonus plus deposit. That difference is huge.
- Minimum odds: bets below the limit often don't count.
- Time limit: short windows push you to bet more than you planned.
- Maximum bet and withdrawal caps: some terms cap what you can cash out.
- Excluded payment methods: check this if you use an e-wallet.
Take a SEK 1,000 bonus with a 6x requirement at odds of 1.80 or higher. You'll have to turn over SEK 6,000. At a typical 5% margin, the expected cost of that turnover is around SEK 300. The bonus is still worth something, roughly SEK 700 in expectation, but it's a long way from a free thousand. And that's assuming you bet on the terms and not on your mood.
The Value Of Odds
This is the part I wish more bettors would take seriously. A bonus happens once. The margin happens every time you bet. Say you stake SEK 500 a week on two-way markets. At one book, those markets are priced 1.90 and 1.90, a margin of 5%. At another, they're 1.95 and 1.95, a margin of 2.5%. Over a year, you turn over SEK 26,000. The first book costs you about SEK 1,300 in expectation, the second about SEK 650.
That's SEK 650 a year in your pocket for picking a better price, every year, with no wagering terms attached. In a market where the law has flattened bonuses, I'd pick the sharper book over the bigger headline nearly every time. Open accounts at two or three licensed sites, and compare before you bet.
Customer Support At Swedish Sportsbooks
You should expect support in Swedish at a licensed sportsbook, with live chat as the channel that actually gets things done.
Swedish-language Support, Hours And Channels
Here's what our test log shows. We asked the same three questions in Swedish on each channel, covering limits, a settled bet, and a delayed payout. A fast reply that's wrong is worse than a slow reply that's right, which is why we score accuracy separately.
And if a licensed site treats you badly and support goes nowhere, you do have somewhere else to turn. You can report it to Spelinspektionen, though the regulator doesn't settle individual disputes. For that, Swedish consumers can go to Allmänna reklamationsnämnden (ARN), the national consumer disputes board.
Responsible Gambling In Sweden
If betting has stopped being fun, Sweden has free help you can reach today: call Stödlinjen on 020-81 91 00, or self-exclude at Spelpaus.se in a couple of minutes. Please don't wait until it feels serious enough. There's no such threshold.
Mandatory Tools Every Licensed Site Must Offer
- Deposit limits: set per day, week, and month, before you can play.
- A route to Spelpaus: every licensed site must let you get there quickly, usually through a small icon that stays visible.
- A self-test: a link to a short check of your own gambling habits.
- Duty of care: operators must monitor play and step in to help you cut down when there's reason to. It isn't optional, and regulators have fined companies under it.
- Age and identity checks: 18 and over, verified.
- Marketing limits: no direct marketing to anyone who has self-excluded.
National Support: Spelpaus And Stödlinjen
According to Spelpaus.se, the register is a free service run by Spelinspektionen, with exclusion periods of 10 days, 1, 3, or 6 months, or until further notice, with a minimum of 12 months. A self-exclusion can't be cancelled or cut short. That's the point. It covers licensed gambling in Sweden, online and at agents, across every licensed company at once.
The short option is new. According to iGaming Expert, more than 134,500 people had registered as of May 2026. According to SiGMA, the regulator has cautioned that the 10 days isn't intended to replace longer exclusions for people with more established problems. Stödlinjen is the national helpline. It's free and anonymous, by phone or chat, for people who gamble and for their families.
Treatment And Peer Support In Sweden
Sweden treats gambling problems as a health issue, and regions and municipalities have been responsible for offering care and support since 2018. You can start with your local health centre or at 1177, the national health guide, or with the social services in your municipality. Treatment is often cognitive behavioural therapy, sometimes online.
Peer groups matter as well. Spelberoendes Riksförbund is the national association of people with lived experience, with local groups around the country. Anhörigas Riksförbund supports family members, who often carry this quietly for a long time. Debt counselling (budget- och skuldrådgivning) is available free through your municipality, and I'd suggest using it early if money has become part of the problem.
International Support Options
If you're outside Sweden or would rather talk in English, Gambling Therapy offers free online support internationally. Gamblers Anonymous runs peer meetings in many countries. And blocking tools like Gamban and BetBlocker can stop your devices from reaching gambling sites, including the offshore ones Spelpaus doesn't cover.
Hotline Numbers And Problem Gambling
| Service |
Contact |
What it’s for |
| Stödlinjen |
020-81 91 00, stodlinjen.se |
Free anonymous gambling helpline, phone and chat |
| Spelpaus |
spelpaus.se |
National self-exclusion, log in with BankID |
| 1177 |
1177, 1177.se |
Healthcare advice, finding care near you |
| Spelberoendes Riksförbund |
Spelberoende.se |
Peer support groups |
| Anhörigas Riksförbund |
Anhorigasriskforbund.se |
Support for family friends |
| Mind Självmordslinjen |
90101 |
Suicide helpline, if you’re having thoughts of ending your life |
| Emergency |
112 |
If you or someone else is in immediate danger |
FAQ
Is Online Sports Betting Legal In Sweden?
Yes. Adults aged 18 and over can legally bet online in Sweden at sportsbooks holding a betting licence from Spelinspektionen. The licence system has been in place since 1 January 2019 under the Gambling Act.
How Do I Check Whether A Sportsbook Has A Swedish License?
Look up the company in Spelinspektionen's licence register. Licences are listed under the legal company, which often has a different name from the brand, so find the company name in the site's footer or terms first. Then compare the two.
Are Betting Winnings Taxed In Sweden?
Not at licensed sites. Winnings from a sportsbook with a Swedish licence are tax-free and don't need declaration. If an unlicensed site targets Sweden, net winnings over SEK 100 must be declared and taxed as capital income at 30%.
Can I Use Swish At Swedish Betting Sites?
Yes, many licensed sportsbooks accept Swish deposits, which arrive instantly and are confirmed with BankID. Withdrawals are a different matter. Only some operators pay out to Swish, while others use a bank payout instead, so check the cashier before depositing.
Why Do Swedish Betting Sites Use BankID?
Licensed sites have to verify who you are, confirm that you're 18 or over, and check you against the Spelpaus register. BankID does this quickly. It's an identity tool, not a payment method, even though you'll often see it during a deposit.
Can I Bet With A Credit Card In Sweden?
No. Since 1 May 2026, licensed operators can't accept gambling funded by credit. That covers credit cards, overdrafts, loans, and buy now pay later services. Debit cards and direct bank payments such as Swish and Trustly remain allowed.
How Many Bonuses Can A Swedish Sportsbook Give Me?
One. Under chapter 14, section 9 of the Gambling Act, a licensee may only offer a bonus at the first occasion you play with it. Reload offers, recurring cashback and loyalty rewards aren't allowed for existing customers.
Do I Have To Set A Deposit Limit?
Yes. Licensed online sites require you to set a deposit limit before you play, covering the day, week, and month. You choose the amount. Lowering a limit applies straight away, while raising one takes effect only after a waiting period.
What Is Spelpaus And Can I Cancel It?
Spelpaus.se is Sweden's free national self-exclusion register, covering all licensed gambling. You can exclude yourself for 10 days, 1, 3, or 6 months, or until further notice with a 12-month minimum. An exclusion can't be cancelled or shortened once you've made it.
Is It Illegal To Bet On A Foreign Site From Sweden?
Swedish law targets those who provide and promote unlicensed gambling, rather than the player. But if the site targets Sweden without a licence, your winnings can be taxable, and you get no Spelpaus protection and no Swedish regulator behind you. We don't list these sites.
Are Svenska Spel And ATG The Only Legal Betting Options?
Not since 2019. Svenska Spel and ATG are both still big names, especially for pools and horse racing, but any qualifying company can get a betting licence. That includes many international brands, which is why you have a real choice of sportsbooks.
Where Can I Get Help With A Gambling Problem In Sweden?
Call Stödlinjen on 020-81 91 00 for free, anonymous advice, or use its chat. You can self-exclude at Spelpaus.se, and your health centre or 1177 can point you towards treatment. Family members can get help too.
