Closures

After Casino Cosmopol: Swedish casino gaming goes mobile

By Mikael Sandberg · Published 26 October 2026

Sweden’s last state-run land casino, Casino Cosmopol in Stockholm, closed for good in April 2025. Since 1 January 2026, land-based casinos have also been completely banned in Sweden. That means all licensed casino gaming in the country now takes place online, through operators holding a licence from Spelinspektionen.

What’s new

Casino Cosmopol was run by Svenska Spel and opened in the early 2000s across four towns, starting with Sundsvall in summer 2001, followed by Malmö the same December, Gothenburg in 2002 and Stockholm in 2003. The venues closed one by one: Sundsvall already in 2020, Malmö and Gothenburg on 24 February 2024, and finally Stockholm permanently in April 2025.

According to Svenska Spel, the closures were driven by falling profitability and fewer visitors as more players moved online, and parliament had also decided the state casinos should be phased out. The law change went further still: from the turn of 2026, no operator at all may hold a licence to run casino games in physical venues in Sweden.

The shift ties into the fact that private gambling companies licensed by Spelinspektionen have been allowed to offer casino games in Sweden since the new gambling act took effect on 1 January 2019. As early as 2024, Svenska Spel said online casino already accounted for roughly a third of the entire Swedish gambling market’s turnover, a share that has likely grown further since. Today, mobile casino is the natural choice for most Swedish players.

What it means for you as a player

The checks that once took place at Casino Cosmopol’s entrance have moved into the technology itself. Where there was once ID checks at the door and staff watching how guests played, players are now identified with BankID, must set a deposit limit and can exclude themselves from gambling. If you want strong identity verification, you can read more about sites using BankID to log in.

The social feel of a physical table lives on in a different form. Live casino with real dealers in real time has become an option that mimics parts of the atmosphere of a physical casino, streamed to your phone or computer. Anyone who feels gambling is taking up too much space can use Spelpaus.se to exclude themselves from all licensed gambling, and Stödlinjen.se offers free support.

Big picture

Casino Cosmopol’s closure reflects a wider shift in the Swedish gambling market. The re-regulation with Swedish licences has let more foreign operators fully establish themselves in Sweden, increasing competition further. The closures also had real consequences for staff: when the Stockholm operation wound down, around 240 employees were affected, and the building on Kungsgatan passed to a new owner.

For Swedish players, the shift effectively means the range of slots, table games and live casino from Swedish and international studios now defines the casino experience, rather than a trip to a physical venue. The era of state casino halls is over, but the games themselves live on in the mobile, under Spelinspektionen’s supervision.