Poker in Sweden: a licensed online market with no casinos left

Sweden is an unusual poker market: the online side is properly licensed and player-friendly, while the live side no longer exists. Casino Cosmopol Stockholm, the country's last land-based casino, closed on 24 April 2025, and parliament voted that month to abolish land-based casinos outright from 1 January 2026. There is nowhere in Sweden to sit in a casino poker game.

Is online poker legal in Sweden?

Yes, under licence. The Gambling Act — Spellagen, SFS 2018:1138 — came into force on 1 January 2019 and created a licensing regime supervised by **Spelinspektionen**. Any operator offering online poker to Swedish residents needs a Swedish licence, and operating without one carries substantial penalties.

The minimum age is 18, and licensed sites verify identity through BankID.

Tax: the part that decides where you play

Winnings from a Spelinspektionen-licensed operator are **not taxable income** in Sweden. Winnings from an operator without a Swedish licence are treated as foreign-source income and taxed at the standard rate.

That single distinction matters more than any bonus. A player choosing an unlicensed site is accepting a tax bill on results that would otherwise be tax-free.

Why we list no partner room for Sweden

We only recommend rooms that may lawfully serve the market and that will actually pay an affiliate for the traffic. **GGPoker names Sweden as a Restricted Jurisdiction in its own terms and conditions**, so we do not point Swedish players at it. None of the other rooms we work with holds a position here that we can verify, so this page carries information and no operator link.

If you are in Sweden and want to play online, the practical answer is to use Spelinspektionen's own licensee register to check that a site is licensed before depositing — both for consumer protection and for the tax treatment above.

The end of live poker in Sweden

Svenska Spel held a monopoly on land-based casinos through its Casino Cosmopol brand. It closed Sundsvall in 2020, then Gothenburg and Malmö in February 2024, and finally Stockholm on 24 April 2025 — the operator said the business had been loss-making for a long time and around 240 staff were affected. Parliament had voted that April to ban land-based casinos from 1 January 2026, and Svenska Spel simply closed early.

Sweden therefore has no casino poker room at all. Swedish players who want live tournaments travel — most often to Denmark, the Baltic festivals, or the larger European stops.

Swedish players

For a country of ten million, Sweden's record is remarkable. **Martin Jacobson** won the 2014 WSOP Main Event for $10,000,000 and sits 89th on the all-time money list. **Niklas Astedt**, better known online as Lena900, is one of the most successful online tournament players ever and has $9.7m live alongside it. Behind them are Viktor Blom, Chris Bjorin, Anton Wigg, Michael Tureniec and Martin de Knijff — eleven Swedes have passed $3m in live earnings.

All legal points here are general information, not legal advice, and the position can change.