Spillemyndigheden’s 2012 Gambling Liberalization Achieves Healthy Market

Spillemyndigheden, the Danish Gambling Authority (DGA), is celebrating 10 years since the Danish gambling market was liberalized with impressive results. Danes have been able to gamble online since January 1, 2012, and, currently, 90% are choosing operators licensed in Denmark.

10 Years Have Passed Since a Major Gambling Market Liberalization in Denmark

10 years ago, Denmark’s gambling market was a monopoly but since January 1, 2012, other private operators were allowed to enter the Danish market and offer online sports betting and casino games under a new licensing regime.

The mission of the liberalization was to encourage Danes to gamble on licensed websites in order to achieve a market that is well-regulated and caters to the protection of players and overall responsible gambling.

In addition, the reform was meant to move the Danes’ gambling spending from the grey market to the licensed and regulated market and correspondingly move the tax revenue to the state.

10 years have passed and the current state of the gambling market in the country shows that this was the right decision on the part of the DGA.

90% of Gambling in Denmark Happens through Licensed Gambling Operators

The greatest success of this move is seen in the increase of the share of gambling on licensed websites and apps. In 2011 the share was only 40%, while, according to figures from 2021, the number has grown to 90%.

Director of DGA Anders Dorph has elaborated that 10 years ago Danes wanted to gamble on more gambling products than the state monopoly was offering so they turned to various online gambling providers, which were not licensed by the state.

Dorph added “These providers were not subject to Danish regulations and therefore did not pay gambling taxes to the state. It also meant that they did not have to comply with the Danish rules on consumer protection and responsible gambling.”

On behalf of the DGA, Dorph is of course extremely happy that Danes choose to play on licensed and regulated websites. He also highlights that Denmark is among the countries with the highest percentage of gambling taking place through licensed gambling operators. According to the available data, Great Britain is the leader with 98%, and Denmark’s 90% are only surpassed by Romania, Italy, and the Czech Republic.

Overall Gambling Spend in Denmark Increased by 7% since 2012

For the past 10 years, Danes have gradually started spending 7% more on gambling. This increase is mostly due to higher activity in the sports betting and online casino sectors, which were the two game products that were subject to the liberalization of 2012.

In the course of 10 years, Danes’ spend on online casino games was boosted from DKK 1.6 billion ($795 million) to DKK 3.3 billion ($1.6 billion) marking the biggest growth of over 100% among all gambling sectors in the Danish market.

Sports betting on the other hand experienced growth in spending from DKK 1.7 billion ($843 million) in 2012 to DKK 2.6 billion ($1.3 billion) in 2021, marking an increase of 53%.