Evolution AB has reported a relatively steady start to 2026, yet its Q1 results stand out for being the latest in a series of revenue declines for Swedish-founded and Stockholm-listed enterprises.
Patrick Killeen, SBC News Business Journalist, takes a look at what the financial performance of not just Evolution but the wider cohort of Stockholm PLCs can tell us about what pressures are facing the industry in 2026 – and perhaps most significantly, which markets these pressures are coming from…
One continent a ‘clear disappointment’ for Evolution…
In its Q1 report published yesterday, B2B gaming solutions provider Evolution outlined revenues of €513m (£445.5m), down 1.5% year-on-year from €521m. EBITDA also edged lower and came in nearly 1% under expectations, falling from €342m to €335m.
Earnings per share was just under forecasts at €1.26 vs €1.27 consensus, while EBITDA margin, at 65.4%, was also lower than expected (66-68%), but Chief Executive Officer Martin Carlesund described this margin as ‘a reflection of choice, not failure’.
More revealing is the regional split. Europe, once a cornerstone of performance, continued to drag – down 12% YoY and 5.9% quarter-on-quarter to €345.3 million – dropping to levels last seen in the second half of 2022.
Carlesund cited regulatory volatility and declining channelisation as key headwinds – common blemishes for both B2C and B2B gambling firms operating across the continent.
“The clear disappointment this quarter was Europe. Following a lacklustre end to 2025, the region declined another 5.9% quarter-on-quarter,” Carlesund said.
“The main reasons are regulatory volatility and subjectivity, which have a clear impact on player activity.
“We also continue to face a material disadvantage from our self-imposed ring-fencing measures, which, as stated several times before, is the right long-term path even though the short-term price is high.
“Overall, channelisation in Europe is decreasing and it is bad for the impacted countries, the players and the industry as such.”
However, Carlesund was still bullish about the firm’s prospects upon wrapping up a quarter which saw huge growth in Latin America, slight growth in Asia, and positives in North America, with Evolution completing the construction of its second studio in Michigan.
He told investors: “As a shareholder of Evolution, you are well aware that we have faced several ordeals over the past years, ranging from changing regulatory dynamics to cybercrime and deceitful attempts by competitors to harm our company.
“I want to reiterate two things: First, at Evolution, we never shy away. We stand up for what we believe in, we do what is right and we always push forward. While this can hurt a little in the short-term, our cost-efficient operations, discipline, and fantastic, hard-working talents give us the resilience to stay patient and focused on long-term value creation.
“Second, we never lose sight of what really matters: player satisfaction and entertainment! There is no way around that the one supplier with the content that players want is the one that will win in the end.”
A recurrent theme for Sweden?
However, the slightly disappointing results for the business continue a common theme for Sweden-listed and Sweden-linked businesses in the gambling industry in recent months – and even years.
For much of the past decade, Sweden has established itself as a technological powerhouse within Europe, notably within fintech. Swedish businesses have been staples of the gambling scene too, scaling globally and delivering high-margin growth.
That picture now looks like it is becoming harder to sustain, particularly within the iGaming industry. Evolution’s results underline a broader shift now playing out across the country’s gambling cohort.
The combination Carlesund mentioned regarding headwinds, regulation tightening while channelisation weakens, is not unique to Evolution.
Betsson
At Betsson AB, early Q1 signals pointed to a sharper squeeze. Two weeks ago, the business confirmed revenue is expected to fall 3% to €285m, but the more striking figure is profitability, with EBIT forecast to drop 47% to €34m.
The company attributes this largely to higher taxes and a shifting revenue mix, with growth in Latin America and Western Europe unable to fully offset declines in CEECA and its home of the Nordics.
Betsson’s B2B division also weakened significantly, with revenue falling from €90m to €51m.
The business issued a preliminary warning on its Q1 2026 results and is yet to provide a specific financial guidance for the full year FY2026.
Kambi
On the supplier side again, Kambi Group saw full-year 2025 revenue decline 8.2% to €162m, while profit fell 56% to €8.1m. The company confirmed that its financials had been impacted by – shock horror – tax increases across key European markets.
Increases in tax in jurisdictions including the Netherlands and the UK have dominated industry headlines.
Sweden increased gross gaming revenue (GGR) tax from 18% to 22% in 2024, while France recently raised online sports betting levies to 59.3% of GGR and online poker to 10% of GGR.
At the same time, Kambi faces the gradual loss of major clients such as FDJ United and LeoVegas, both of which are moving towards in-house sportsbook solutions.
While the company is investing in AI-driven trading and targeting growth in the Americas, CEO Werner Becher has been clear that Europe now offers limited expansion opportunities.
MGM Digital
And speaking of LeoVegas, MGM Digital, which it is now a subsidiary of, adds a more nuanced layer to the narrative.
On the surface, the numbers point to continued expansion. MGM has been particularly active in pushing the BetMGM brand internationally over the past year, using the LeoVegas platform it acquired in May 2022 as the vehicle.
MGM Digital reported net revenues of $654m for 2025, up 19% YoY from $552, with overall growth of 35% across its digital operations. Leadership pointed to strong momentum across international markets, with Europe – and actually Sweden in particular – remaining a key contributor to that group.
However, the picture begins to become more complicated as you get past the top-line numbers. The division remains loss-making, with an adjusted EBITDA loss widening to $90m from $77m the previous year.
Catena
The pressure is arguably even more visible among affiliate businesses, where the old high-growth model has come under sustained strain.
Catena Media reported a 6% decline in full-year revenue to €46.6m, continuing a longer-term slide, even as Q4 profitability improved by a huge 51% following a major restructuring.
The company has effectively pivoted away from Europe, with North America now accounting for 98% of revenue, but is still listed in Stockholm, where the market has not been kind to its stock in recent times.
Catena’s shares are now trading at around 2.50 SEK – way off its 148.5 SEK peak in 2018.
Raketech
A similar but arguably even more severe representation of difficulty can be seen at Raketech. Revenue fell 47.3% in 2025 to €27m, alongside a significant drop in gross profit.
The business is now rebuilding around a platform-first strategy and organic growth, having divested non-core assets and shifted focus to the Nordics and North America.
Its market valuation is now below SEK 100m (£8m), reflecting the scale of the reset underway and its share price has been tumbling relatively consistently since early 2022.
Angler
Even where financial performance appears stronger, the underlying trends remain mixed.
Angler Gaming – a Malta-based, Swedish-listed, iGaming focused investment firm – saw revenue fall 23.8% in 2025, yet managed to increase EBIT by 21% and more than double net profit from €1.8m to €4.5m.
That improvement was driven largely by cost control and margin expansion, but it came alongside sharp declines in active customers and new registrations, suggesting demand-side pressures are still very much present.
Angler is another business the market has not been kind to, with shares trading at around 3.3 SEK – way off 27p peak in 2021.
What are the culprits?
Taken together, these results point to a common theme of disappointment for Sweden’s businesses in the gambling industry.
Rising taxes across Europe, increasing compliance demands and shifting regulatory interpretations are all feeding into a more complex mix of markets which is under the proverbial pump currently.
At the same time, concerns around channelisation, highlighted again in Evolution’s results, raise questions about whether stricter regulation is, in some cases, pushing activity away from licensed operators and towards the ever-growing black market.
The response from companies has been broadly similar – expand into higher-growth regions such as Latin America and North America, invest in new technology and tighten cost bases to protect margins. But these are, increasingly, defensive and combative measures as well as strategic ones.
None of this amounts to a collapse, with many of these businesses remaining highly profitable and globally competitive.
However, the element of positivity has been clearly lacking in recent times, despite the best efforts of enthusiastic leadership teams and abovementioned technology breakthroughs.
Swedish businesses are coping with the same challenges that the vast majority of licensed European operators are, and similar impacts are being felt across the LSE and Paris Euronext, among others.
Nonetheless, a push back towards growth and expectations being exceeded would be a welcome bit of respite for a stock market which has been marred by negativity in the past year when it comes to its gambling PLCs.