How the Danish gambling market has emerged as a model: for safety and for profits

Denmark is often said to be one of the safest gambling markets in Europe. Often, the gambling legislation in Denmark is given as an example to other countries. The reason for this is that although the gambling regulations in the country are tight, they lead to good results and a great increase in the iGaming market in Denmark.

In the last few years, the iGaming industry in Denmark has been steadily improving. In the meantime, the land-based gaming sector has been showing a slow-down and decrease in profits. One of the main factors that show a definite improvement in the Danish iGaming scene is the revenue result from the third quarter of 2018. During this period of the fiscal 2018 year, revenues at Denmark’s six land-based casinos have shown an increase of 9.7 percent, compared to the revenue during the same period of the previous year. This percent is estimated to be around 1.6 million kroner growth in revenue.

Gambling regulations in Denmark
On January 2012, the Danish Gaming Act was passed. Its purpose was to liberalise and yet properly regulate the gaming market in Denmark. Thanks to the act, it is easier to obtain a betting and online casino licence that subsequently leads to many legal and properly regulated gaming and betting operators.

In addition to legalising virtual gambling in the country, the Danish Gaming Act also concentrates on the protection of underage individuals, as well as vulnerable people. This is why ensuring a fair and well-regulated gaming environment is a key aspect that the Gaming Authority has taken upon regulating.

The Danish Gambling Authority (Spillemyndigheden) has taken the role of licensing and regulating the gaming market in Denmark. According to www.supercasinosites.com, one of the main tasks that the Danish Gambling Authority has taken on is undertaking strict actions against illegal online gambling. The measures included in this act are blocking payments, internet disruption and banning any advertisements promoting gambling.

The bill for the Gaming Act was adopted in 2010 and the Danish Gambling Law was passed on 1 January 2012. Nowadays, Denmark is considered as an example for other European countries that wish to make changes to their gambling legislation.

Why is Denmark one of the safest gaming markets in Europe?
When it comes to proper gaming regulation, Denmark is often given as an example that other countries should follow. The reason for that is that the Danish gaming market is strictly regulated and the key points implicit in the Gambling Act are properly implied.

Since the Danish Gambling Act was enforced, Denmark has managed to narrow down the number of illegal online casinos. It is also well-known that locally licensed online operators are the safest ones in Europe. To further contribute to the safety of the Danish gaming market, the government is also targeting sites for Esport betting.

At the end of 2018, Spillemyndigheden took serious measures to establish and prevent illegal online casinos from operating. The end result of this chase was a total of 742 websites that were either considered dangerous or their legal status was extremely vague. The Gaming Authority broadened its search so it could spot as many illegal operators as possible. In the meantime, the properly licensed gaming websites in Denmark are growing in number, contributing to the development of the iGaming market in the country.

Even though the number of the bad-listed websites is quite large, only the owners of 22 web-based casinos were notified to have violated the Danish Gambling Act. Denmark iGaming stats shows that 18 of these websites were blocked by their internet service providers. This is a higher number of blocked operators compared to past years, which shows that the Danish Authority is serious about decreasing the number of illegal online gaming sites in the country.

To further expand its regulations, the Gambling Authority has also targeted online esport betting sites. Spillemyndigheden has established there are 95 betting websites that do not entirely meet the criteria for conducting proper esport betting. The main issue is found in so-called ‘skin betting’. This is the act of selling skins for real money that can be used for betting purposes. The problem with illegal betting sites is that they often allow underage individuals to participate in this act.

As a result of the work the Gambling Authority has done, 17 esport betting sites were issued petitions and there was a request for six of them to be blocked. This only further proves why the Danish gaming market is the safest one in Europe and serves as an example to many other countries.

The contribution of online casinos
One can easily notice the vast growth of the iGaming market in Denmark when we take a look at the revenue of locally regulated online casinos. During the last quarter of the fiscal 2018 year, the Danish regulatory authority Spillemyndigheden stated a gross gaming revenue from locally licensed online casinos of 1.655 billion kroner. Compared to the last quarter of 2017, the growth is estimated to be 0.8 percent.

If we combine both online and land-based sports betting, we will get the total revenue for the fourth quarter of 2018, which is estimated to be 664 million kroner. Compared to the same period of the previous year, however, there is a fall of almost 7 percent in sports betting revenue. If we take into consideration the fact that horse racing was also included in the revenue for 2018, the drop would have been even bigger.

Meanwhile, the online casino sites that have introduced casino search algorithm with filters are thriving with a 33.5 percent share of the overall revenue pie. During the fourth quarter of 2018, the online casino revenue rose with almost 16 percent to 554.9 million kroner. While the online casino market in Denmark continues to grow throughout 2018, it reached its peak with revenue of 206.7 million kroner in December.

During the last quarter of 2017, mobile channels have reported sports betting revenue of 49.9 percent, which decreased to 48.2 percent during the fourth quarter of 2018. In contrast, the results from desktop betting showed a growth of 3.2 points to 18.5 percent.

Judging by all of the results stated above, it can be seen that online casinos are contributing significantly to the overall growth of the iGaming market in Denmark.