Swedish state-owned operator Svenska Spel has awarded SEK5m ($504,000) across five studies on gambling harm, with projects ranging from the effects of customer welfare calls to the treatment of young adults. Its independent research council announced the 2026 allocations on 20 October.
The largest grant, SEK1.3m, goes to Danilo Romero for the development and testing of internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy tailored to young adults with gambling problems. The project aims to make treatment more accessible.
Olga Perski receives SEK1.2m to develop a mobile support tool intended to identify moments of risk and offer help when it may be most useful. Kent Nilsson receives the same amount to study microtransactions, loot boxes and trading in virtual items, and their possible relationship with gambling problems and mental ill health among young people.
Kristina Sundqvist's SEK800,000 project examines how gambling problems affect relatives, including financial strain and mental health, and the support they need. Jakob Jonsson receives SEK500,000 to test whether Svenska Spel's direct welfare calls change customer gambling behaviour over time.
The five projects examine different stages of harm, from exposure in digital games to intervention and treatment. The awards fund work still to be carried out. No study findings have been released.
The research council says it selects the topics, assesses applications scientifically, decides how funding is distributed and follows up on results. Svenska Spel has contributed more than SEK100m to independent gambling research since the council began in 2010.
The funding arrives as Swedish authorities examine links between gaming products and gambling harm. A September Spelinspektionen survey of adults aged 18 to 29 found an association between riskier gambling and both loot boxes and skin gambling, particularly among younger men. The regulator did not identify a causal relationship.
The Public Health Agency separately reported in April that almost one in five men aged 18 to 29 showed some degree of gambling problems in a 2025 survey. The focus on young people in the newly funded projects follows that evidence, though the studies will have to test their own questions.
Sweden's review of youth gambling, detailed by Global Gaming Insider in September, will consider gambling-like features in video games and additional safeguards. Its report is due by February 2028.
The research council first invited funding applications in 2011 and ordinarily favours doctoral and postdoctoral projects
