The Danish Gambling Authority, Spillemyndigheden, released this week the latest data about the gambling spend in the country in the last two months of 2022.
November and December Figures
Licensed gambling operators submitted mixed revenue data for November and December as land-based casinos and gaming machine venues registered significant growth, online casino accounted for a modest growth and sports betting registered a double-digit decline.
Land-based casinos accounted for DKK60 million ($8.76 million) registering an increase of 28.6% as compared to the same two-month period in 2021 while growth for operators of gaming machines was smaller, 13.7%, to DKK194 million ($28.32 million).
The substantial increase across retail gambling operations in December was attributed to the lower revenues registered in the comparable period in 2021 as by that time land-based casinos were closed as part of the government measures against the pandemic.
Online casino license holders registered a growth of just 4.7%, to DKK504 million ($73.58 million), while revenue from sports betting operations declined by 14.6% to DKK395 million ($57.66 million) as compared to DKK462 million ($67.44 million) in the same period of 2021.
In December, online casino registered a record month of DKK 272.3 million ($39.75 million) since 2012 when the country began collecting GGR data. Online casino GGR in December 2022 beat December 2021 by 3.4%.
Full-Year 2022 GGR
For the full year ended December 31, 2022, gross gaming revenue (GGR) was DKK6.70 billion ($978 million), up 7.5% when compared to DKK6.23 billion ($909.5 million) registered in 2021.
The largest segment, online casino, accounted for a marginal growth of 2.4%, to DKK2.88 billion ($420.4 million), while the second-largest, sports betting declined by 4.1%, to DKK2.32 billion ($338.7 million).
The retail sector registered significant gains, 59.1% and 47.5%, or DKK349 million ($50.95 million) and DKK1.15 billion ($168.5 million) for land-based casinos and slot operations, respectively. In 2021, casinos accounted for a GGR of DKK220 million ($32.1 million) and slot machines added another DKK740 million ($108 million).
Last month, the Danish Gambling Authority addressed some issues with deposit limits and operator bonuses as part of its updated guidance on responsible gambling. Spillemyndigheden also reminded operators that deposit limits should not be set in a way that defeats the preventative and protective efforts of the tool itself and that bonuses should not be awarded to inactive players.
Also in December, the regulator updated the Register of Voluntarily Excluded Players (ROFUS) by implementing a new design to make navigation on the website easier for its users.