The surge in online gaming in Denmark couldn’t offset the decline in physical gambling venues during the initial three months of the year.
Denmark’s gambling income decreased by 15.3% in the first quarter of 2021, despite online casinos achieving record-breaking revenue. This wasn’t sufficient to compensate for the losses incurred from the closure of brick-and-mortar casinos.
The nation’s casinos, arcades, and restaurant casinos were shuttered from December 9th, 2020, due to the COVID-19 outbreak. They were initially scheduled to reopen on February 28th but ultimately did not resume operations until April 5th. Consequently, the Danish Gambling Authority, Spillemyndigheden, did not report any income from land-based casinos or slot machines in the first quarter.
Online casinos provided some relief. They witnessed a 28.7% year-over-year increase in revenue during the first quarter, reaching DKK 717 million. This marked a record for online casinos and was also 7.7% higher than the final quarter of 2020.
Nevertheless, Spillemyndigehen stated that it’s uncertain whether this rise in online gambling is directly attributable to the pandemic. The increase in online revenue did not mirror the decline in land-based gambling during the same period.
At the time of this writing (April 29), no financial data separated by product has been disclosed.
Danish sports betting earnings also decreased in the initial three-month period, as physical betting operations were unable to function. Revenue was down 7.4% to DKK 588 million compared to the first three months of 2020, and down 18.8% compared to the previous three-month period.
Looking at player protection resources available in Denmark, the national self-exclusion system Register Over Frivilligt Udelukkede Spillere (Rofus) had 27,962 individuals registered at the end of the first quarter.
Of these 27,962 individuals, 18,050 were permanently prohibited from gambling, while another 9,912 were excluded for timeframes ranging from 1 to 6 months.
In the meantime, the problem gambling helpline StopSpillet received 1,305 calls in the initial three-month period. The majority of these came from gamblers, followed by friends and family, then treatment professionals, and lastly 3 calls from computer gamers.
Following the release of first-quarter results, the Danish market experienced its first full-year revenue decline in 2020 since re-regulation in 2012.
Earnings for the 12 months ending December 31, 2020, fell 8.7% to DKK 6 billion, as the COVID-19 pandemic forced land-based betting operations to shut down for a significant portion of the year. Sports betting earnings also decreased significantly in the second quarter, as the pandemic forced the cancellation and suspension of sporting events globally.
Sign up for the iGaming newsletter.
