Stockholm has become a favorite stock exchange among Europe’s online gambling companies, with 19 such companies now being listed on it, following a wave of IPOs since the beginning of 2017, Bloomberg reports.

News about Sweden’s capital having the largest number of online gaming and betting companies in Europe come at a time when the country is gearing up for re-regulation and liberalization of its own online gambling market.

LeoVegas, Aspire Global AB, Cherry, Kindred Group, and Betsson are several of the companies to have opted either for Nasdaq Nordic, known to be the main Stockholm board, or the First North market over the past several years.

Danish developer of online gaming products Better Collective was the latest company to float on the Stockholm stock exchange. It started trading its shares on the main Nasdaq Stockholm market on June 8.

As mentioned above, the Swedish capital currently has 19 listed companies operating in the European online gambling industry, beating out the London Stock Exchange which is currently home to 16 gambling companies.

As many as seven iGaming companies have listed on the Nasdaq Nordic or First North markets since the beginning of 2017, with those being Global Gaming, Scout Gaming, Evolution Gaming, Better Collective, Cherry, Aspire Global, and LeoVegas, Bloomberg notes. Some of these have listed through initial public offering, others have moved from other platforms.

The business news outlet further points out that the companies’ performance has varied after their listing. Aspire Gaming has thus reached a 35% increase in its post-listing fortune, while LeoVegas has slumped 30%.

In terms of market value, London still accounts for the largest portion of European online gaming and betting companies’ collective value. However, it is important to note that Stockholm and London together currently account for 78% of the total market value of gambling companies across the continent, with Greece, France, and Spain comprising top 5.

According to Nasdaq Head of European Listings Adam Kostyal, Stockholm has become an attractive stock exchange due to its well-developed community of experts and investors as well as local entrepreneurs’ reputation of early adopters of technology and innovation. The expert further told Bloomberg that he expects more listings by both local and international gaming and betting companies to take place in near future.

Sweden has entered the final stages of re-regulating and liberalizing its gambling market after the country’s main legislative body, the Riksdag, approved earlier this month what would take effect as a new gambling law on January 1, 2019.

Under the new law, international gambling companies will be able to apply for and obtain a license from the local regulator, Lotteriinspektionen, and to operate online gaming and betting services in a regulated environment. Lotteriinspektionen is set to begin accepting license applications from August 1, 2018.

Sweden’s new gaming act aims to replace the country’s Lottery Act of 1994 and the Casino Act of 1999 and will scrap Svenska Spel’s monopoly over the provision of the majority of legal gambling services in the country.

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