Mental Health Diagnoses Reported by One in Five Swedish Gambling Players, New Survey Finds
New data collected by Swedish gambling information site Casinofeber.se suggests that mental illness remains significantly more common among gambling players than many may assume, with roughly one in five casino and betting customers reporting that they have been diagnosed with a mental health condition at some point in their lives.
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The findings come from CasinoTempen 2025, Casinofeber.se’s annual survey of Swedish gambling consumers. The study revisited questions first asked in 2024 to examine how mental health, gambling habits and self-exclusion behavior are evolving among casino and sports betting players.
Among casino players surveyed, 21% said they have received a mental health diagnosis during their lifetime. A further 74% reported never having been diagnosed, while 5% either did not know or preferred not to answer.
Betting players reported similar figures. Nineteen percent said they had been diagnosed with a mental illness, while 77% said they had not. Four percent declined to provide a definitive answer.
Young Women Report the Highest Rates
The clearest pattern in the data emerged when responses were broken down by gender and age.
Across all respondents, 29% of women reported a history of mental illness compared with 13% of men. The gap widened among younger players.
Within the 18-26 age group, 34% of female respondents said they had received a mental health diagnosis at some point in their lives. Among men of the same age, the figure remained at 13%.
The difference was less pronounced among players aged 41-50, where 20% of women and 17% of men reported a diagnosis.
The results place young female players as the demographic most likely to report mental health challenges among those surveyed by Casinofeber.se.
Link Between Mental Health and Spelpaus
The survey also examined responses from players who currently use or have previously used Spelpaus, Sweden’s national self-exclusion system.
Among betting players who had used Spelpaus, 35% reported a history of mental illness in 2025. That marks an increase from 28% in CasinoTempen 2024, representing a rise of seven percentage points in a single year.
The trend among casino players moved in the opposite direction.
In 2024, 32% of self-excluded casino players reported having been diagnosed with a mental illness. In 2025, that figure fell to 26%.
While the survey does not identify the reasons behind these changes, the results suggest that mental health and self-exclusion patterns may be developing differently among betting and casino audiences.
Spending Differences Remain Relatively Small
When comparing monthly gambling expenditure, Casinofeber.se found only modest differences between players with and without a history of mental illness.
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Among betting players who reported a diagnosis, 41% spent between 1 and 99 SEK per month, compared with 34% of those without a diagnosis. At the higher end of spending, 3% of diagnosed betting players reported monthly gambling expenditure between 2,500 and 10,000 SEK, compared with 2% among players without a diagnosis.
The proportion spending more than 10,000 SEK per month was also slightly higher among players reporting mental illness, at 2% versus 1%.
The overall spending patterns were largely consistent with findings from CasinoTempen 2024.
Monthly Gambling More Common Among Diagnosed Betting Players
Differences appeared somewhat more clearly in gambling frequency.
Among betting players with a history of mental illness, 29% reported gambling around once per month. Among those without a diagnosis, the corresponding figure was 21%.
Weekly gambling was more common among players without a reported diagnosis, with 27% gambling approximately once a week compared with 14% among diagnosed players.
Daily or near-daily gambling remained relatively uncommon in both groups, although it was slightly higher among respondents reporting mental illness at 8%, compared with 6% among those without a diagnosis.
Casino Players Show Similar Trends
Casino players displayed a similar, though less pronounced, pattern.
Among respondents with a history of mental illness, 30% reported spending between 200 and 999 SEK per month on casino gambling, compared with 26% among those without a diagnosis.
Higher spending categories also contained slightly larger proportions of players reporting mental illness. Six percent of diagnosed casino players reported spending between 2,500 and 10,000 SEK per month, compared with 5% among those without a diagnosis.
Frequency data followed a similar pattern. Nineteen percent of casino players with a history of mental illness reported gambling weekly, compared with 17% among players without a diagnosis. Daily or near-daily gambling stood at 7% and 6% respectively.
Mental Health Remains a Significant Factor
Although the survey found only limited differences in spending levels and gambling frequency, the demographic patterns were considerably stronger.
More than one-third of young female players reported having received a mental health diagnosis, while women overall were more than twice as likely as men to report a history of mental illness.
The findings from CasinoTempen 2025 suggest that mental health remains an important factor within Sweden’s gambling population, particularly among younger women and among players who have made use of self-exclusion tools such as Spelpaus.
About the Survey
The data comes from CasinoTempen 2025, an annual gambling survey conducted by Casinofeber.se. The study gathered responses from Swedish casino and betting players regarding mental health history, gambling behavior, spending patterns, gambling frequency and use of Sweden’s national self-exclusion service, Spelpaus. The results were also compared with responses collected during CasinoTempen 2024.
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