Denmark’s regulator Spillemyndigheden has reported an 18.3% year-on-year increase in gambling spend for February.
This increase was seen across betting, online casino, gaming machines and land-based casino. In total, this amounted to DKK587m (£67.16m/€78.69/$83.64) in February 2024.
Sports betting and online casino accounted for the largest proportionate increase, with a 32.5% increase in gross gaming revenue (GGR) from sports betting and a 18.5% increase from online casino GGR. This, Spillemyndigheden suggests, is likely due to a lower RTP in February 2024 compared to 2023.
What’s outlined in the report?
The statistics used for the February 2024 report are based on the numbers submitted to the Danish Tax Agency by operators. In addition to the Danish gambling market statistics, the report also includes figures for responsible gambling. These are from the Register of Self-Excluded Gamblers (ROFUS) and StopSpillet, Denmark’s problem gambling helpline.
In terms of GGR, sports betting accounted for 30.2% of the market, with online casino accounting for a further 47.3%, while gaming machines accounted for 16.9%. The remainder of GGR, a total of 5.4%, was taken up by land-based casinos.
While the overall increase in GGR was 18.3% compared to February 2023, notably there was significant variation across verticals.
Sports betting saw the most significant increase. In total this saw an increase of 32.5% from DKK134.0 in February 2023 to DKK178.0m in February 2024. Mobile is also the predominant channel in Denmark, accounting for 65.6% of all bets in February. Desktop accounted for 24.1% and retail 10.19%.
Online casino, meanwhile, also saw a significant increase, with a rise of 18.53% of DKK278.0m in February 2024 from DKK234.0m in February 2023. Interestingly, desktop is far more preferred for online casino over sports betting, accounting for 38.8% of all bets placed. Mobile accounted for 61.1% of bets.
Gaming machines remained stable year-on-year, with a 1.85% increase in GGR. This saw a change of DKK98.0m to DKK100.0m. Land-based casinos also saw a marked rise in GGR, going from DKK30.0m in February 2023 to DKK32.0m in 2024. This totalled a 7.0% increase.
Problem gambling in the country
Spillemyndigheden uses two principle responsible gambling initiatives for the report – ROFUS and StopSpillet.
Notably, men accounted for the greater proportion of self-excluded gamblers in February, totalling 77.2% of all persons. Women, meanwhile, accounted for 22.76%. The total number of self-excluded persons has remained relatively stable between 2023 and 2024, with an increase of 1,500 persons over the year. This totalled 46,152 in 2023 and 48,685 in 2024.
For StopSpillet, males aged between 18 and 35 represented the vast majority of those who contacted the helpline. As recently reported by iGB, StopSpillet, which was introduced on 1 January 2019, has received 2,933 inquiries, with figures suggesting that a large percentage of those callers have a problematic relationship with gambling.
Players calling for themselves were responsible for just over 1,650 inquiries, accounting for 56% of the total. Additionally, 1,150 inquiries, or 40% of the total inquiries, came from relatives of players. In around half of those calls, it was a parent getting in contact with StopSpillet. Meanwhile, 4% of calls came from professionals.
At this time, StopSpillet revealed that 67% of calls were about online casino and online betting. Physical bets and physical slot machines accounted for 20%, while players also mentioned poker and land-based casino betting.
StopSpillet’s latest report follows data from May 2023 in which Spillemyndigheden uncovered that 88% of callers to the helpline had placed their first bet when they were 25 or younger.
Even though the age limit to gamble in Denmark is 18, 50% of callers had placed their first bet before the age of 17. Research released in November revealed that 4% of calls to StopSpillet were from players aged under 18.