In this interview with CalvinAyre.com’s Becky Liggero, Jason Holden of JackpotJoy explains why the Swedish gambling market is an attractive jurisdiction for operators.
Investing in an unlicensed market is always a gamble. In the blink of an eye, people can either lose a lot or money or gain lots from their investment.
To ensure that they will not see their money go down the drain, operators must play their cards very well when it comes to betting on unlicensed markets.
Jason Holden of JackpotJoy knows what it is like to play business in unlicensed markets and how to win in a seeming unfavorable jurisdiction.
He pointed out that unlicensed markets, popularly known as gray markets, are ripe with opportunities just like regulated markets.
All it takes, according to Holden, is to have a broad spread of businesses.
“I think there’s good opportunities in both markets. I think the key is to have a broad spread of businesses both geographically, and to a degree, by vertical to give you a broadly based lower risk business,” Holden told CalvinAyre.com. “I still think it is the case that investors appreciate higher percentages of regulated earnings but I definitely think that in the last couple of years, investors have also begun to see opportunities for unregulated markets.”
Holden said that JackpotJoy is very UK-focused with 70 percent of its revenues coming from the British market. Outside the UK, Holden said that one of their biggest markets is Sweden.
At the moment, Sweden is on a clear path to liberalize online gambling by 2019.
Currently, state owned monopoly Svenska Spel is the only operator licensed to offer online gambling to Swedish players. Among other iGaming verticals, the site runs a segregated online poker room on IGT software.
When it finally opens its doors to foreign gaming companies, Holden predicts that Sweden will become a very important market.
“The Swedish market has been a popular market for the gaming companies but it is about to regulate and license. I’m hopeful that will open up the market and it will grow the market,” he said. “I think Sweden will continue to be a very important market for us.”
