Denmark’s regulated betting and gaming market grew gross gaming revenue (GGR) by 7 per cent to DKK1.73bn (€232.6m) in the fourth quarter of 2020, despite a decline from the land-based sector due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With restaurants, gambling arcades and land-based casinos forced to close in December 2020 to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, GGR from gaming machines fell by 20 per cent year-on-year to DKK266m in Q4, while land-based casino GGR was down 23 per cent at DKK69m.

Q4 2020 GROSS GAMING REVENUE COMPARISON (DKK)

This was offset by a record performance from sports betting, which grew GGR by 16.5 per cent to DKK724m, benefiting from a packed football calendar during the quarter. More than half (51.5 per cent) of sports betting GGR was derived from mobile, with desktop accounting for a further 15 per cent and retail 34 per cent of the total.

Online casino GGR increased by 16 per cent to DKK666m in Q4, with slots representing 74 per cent of the total. Roulette contributed 9 per cent of the total, followed by blackjack at 7 per cent, commission games at 6 per cent and other games the remaining 4 per cent.

Danish gambling regulator Spillemyndigheden also revealed that 25,176 people were registered with the ROFUS self-exclusion system by the end of the year. This comprised 16,918 permanently registered persons and 8,258 temporarily excluded persons, with men accounting for 75.5 per cent of all exclusions.

For the full 2020 year, betting and gaming GGR fell by 9 per cent to DKK5.96bn, with online casino the only sector to record growth as GGR rose 5 per cent to DKK2.45bn.

Sports betting GGR was down 8.5 per cent at DKK2.28bn for the full year, while gaming machines GGR fell by 29 per cent to DKK986mm and GGR from land-based casinos fell by 31.5 per cent to DKK239m.

Gaming Intelligence