SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Svenska Spel has revealed that its heritage ‘Elite Sports Scholarship’ programme has secured a record number of applicants for its 2021 edition.
For the past 40-years, Svenska Spel, Sweden’s state-owned lottery and gambling monopoly, has operated its sports scholarship programme in partnership with Riksidrottsförbundet – Sweden’s Confederation for Sports.
Each year, Svenska Spel awards 50 amateur athletes with a SEK 50,000 (€5,000) in funding to pursue their individual sports. The reward is further complemented with all recipients supported by Riksidrottsförbundet athlete resources.
Updating national media, Svenska Spel informed that it had received a total of 600 applications for its 2021 sports scholarship, surpassing all previous years, in which the programme had averaged 400 individual applicants.
Svenska Spel explained that uptake in its scholarship programme had been driven by the firm’s new group-wide brand development strategy, which focused on raising public awareness of Svenska Spel’s civic duties as Sweden’s gambling monopoly.
“Svenska Spel is Swedish sport’s biggest partner, from broad to elite, and we want to be able to offer the opportunity to combine both elite sports and studies,” said Linn Rydstedt, Sponsorship Project Manager at Svenska Spel.
