Ever since 2012, which is the first year of the online betting and gaming market on a national level, Denmark has managed to establish itself as a leader in engaging payers on its online channels. This should come as no surprise, as Scandinavian people are extremely tech-savvy.

However, to get the bigger picture of the impact digitalization had in Denmark’s iGaming Industry it is of absolute necessity to dive into details on the official data from the Danish Gambling Authority – Spillemyndigheden – on the market overview, with a magnifying glass on the exponential growth of the online channels. 

Market Overview

Denmark has a population of 5.8 million people. 5.69 million of them are internet users, which amount to 98.1% internet penetration. Denmark also has a very high mobile connection rate amounting to 151.4% of the population (8.78 million mobile connections)

95.8% of the internet users own a smartphone, whereas 74.6% own a laptop or desktop computer and 52.5% own a tablet device. This further elaborates the previous statement about Scandinavians, or in this case, Danish people being extremely tech-savvy people. 

Gambling Market

Danish market reached its highest point (so far) in terms of GGR during the 2018-2019 period where it amounted to 9.8 million DKK, however, the pandemic has had its impact, as the total Danish gambling market decreased from 9.8bn of GGR in 2019 to 9.1bn in 2020. 

In 2020, the lottery was the biggest gambling sector in Denmark with a GGR of DKK 3,2 million amounting to over a third of the total gaming market. Furthermore, the online casino was the second-largest gambling sector with a GGR of DKK 2,4 million, making up a market share of 27%. 

On another important note, for the first time since the partial liberalisation of the market in 2012, in 2020 the GGR of online casino surpassed the GGR generated by the betting market. 

For more detailed information download our Denmark Betting Focus – Industry Report

Player Psychographics 

Danes are keen on spending increasingly more on gambling products, as their spending has increased significantly from 2014 to 2018. On average per person Danes spent under DKK 38 a week on gambling products. Out of these DKK 38, DKK 13 were spent on lotteries whereas only DKK 1 was spent on land-based casinos, the remaining was spent on online casino, betting and gaming machines.

Growth Of the Online Markets

Since 2012, the share of GGR on the Danish gambling market coming from online gaming has been increasing. In 2021 it made 31% of the total gambling market, only to increase to 59% in 2020, marking an increase of 28%, which is a very evident growth.

Further, on the subject, Danes prefer to gamble on mobile devices, something that is highlighted in the Danish Gambling Authority’s data showing that since 2012 merely 11% of the GGR from online casino and online betting came from gambling on mobile devices. This increased to 64% during 2020, indicating a growth of 53%.

Additionally, according to the annual overview for 2020 of the Danish Gambling Authority Danish players prefer to place their bets through online channels, especially through mobile devices. 47% of the bets in 2020 game from gambling on mobile devices, 34% from computers while only 18% came from land-based gambling.

For more in-depth analysis of this market download our Denmark Betting Focus – Industry Report