The Danish Community Has Opened Their Arms To Online Gambling
The DGA or the Danish Gambling Authority revealed in their 2017 annual report the brick and mortar gambling in Denmark has been overtaken by online gambling. The online sector is now responsible for 51.5 percent of the countries gambling revenue for a total of 5.7 million people. This is an increase of 47.4 percent from 2017. The Danes have a reputation for having an active lifestyle and this is a good fit for online mobile casinos. Desktop gambling was outpaced by mobile devices with an increase of 54.5 percent.
The 2017 gaming revenue was impacted with $964 million from the lotteries. Online casinos came in next with $290 million. Gambling machines followed with $239 million with land based online casinos coming in last at $60 million. Lotteries are the biggest component in the market for Danish gaming. They account for a gambling revenue of 33.6 percent. The $498 million gross has remained unchanged year after year.
The most recent DGA report revealed when the games are broken down the preference of the Danes are slots. The revenue from online slots accounts for 61.5 percent of all the revenue from gambling. Roulette follows with a total revenue from online gambling at 11.3 percent. The additional games include specialty games and craps with 9.5 percent of the revenue and poker games in last place with a gambling revenue of 7.3 percent.
The report by the DGA also stated the Danish gambling sector has seen growth since 2014. The gambling market has shown a growth of 371 million kroner or the American equivalent of $59.6 million or 4.2 percent from 2016 through 2017. The total growth in the gambling market for GGR is due entirely to the markets higher GGR for online casino betting. The decrease of the lottery sector has been explained by liberalization.
The increase of Denmark’s online gambling has brought other concerns to light. The lawmakers are on different sides of the fence. The Social Democrats and the Danish People’s Party are both wanting online casino bonuses to be regulated. The bonuses offered in Denmark through online casinos have been extreme in attracting new players to the sector. Matching funds of $1,600 have been offered by some operators to acquire a share in the market.
Jesper Petersen is the MP of the Social Democrats. He is calling for a cap of $160 on bonuses as well as betting requirements including maximum cash and playthrough with a clearer definition. The opposition and the governing party both agree bonuses need to be limited. The Socialist People’s Party leans far to the left and has called for a ban for all bonuses at online casinos.
There is concern that extreme action may result from this approach such as eliminating the welcome bonuses from all online casinos. This could cause an increase in the number of unlicensed operators targeting the Danish players from abroad. There were 24 operators blocked due to not having a proper license. During 2017 there were 27 online casinos licensed and fifteen sites for sports betting.
