Covid Impact Carefully Tracked in New H1 Figures out of Denmark

Covid's impact in Denmark was measured over a longer scale of activity to monitor the effectiveness of response.

The impact of Covid on regulated revenue in Denmark showed out at 19.2% year-on-year drop for H1 2020.

Revenue Drop

Danish Gaming Authority Spillemyndigheden figures reveal a drop in revenue for the six months of 30 June to DKK2.70bn (£327.0m/€362.6m/$429.4m).

Leading the Drops

The most significant drops for the period were felt by state-owned Danske Spil’s land-based casinos and gaming machines. The casino contribution dropped over 50% to DKK82m, while gaming machines revenues fell 46.6%.

Meanwhile, sports betting dropped 19.6% to DKK1.01bn for H1.

Casino Holds, Barely

Only online casino managed to report a marginal year-on-year rise in revenue of 2.8% to DKK1.23bn.

Quarterly Comparisons

Q2 was generally a harsh story of revenue declines across the board to 32.8% to DKK1.16bn, after a 5.0% year-on-year Q1 2020 decline.

Casino accounted for the largest Q1 take, with revenue up 6.2% to DKK673m.

Upward Trend?

Spillemyndigheden identified an upward trajectory for the vertical, which is beginning to slow following strong growth of 2018 and 2019.

Slots Contribution

Q2 casino revenue was led by slots at DKK495m, representing 73.5% of slot's total--a marginal decline in market share from Q1 due in large part to roulette’s share growing 9.7% to DKK65m.

Sports Betting Vertical

Sports betting revenue dropped 41.3% to DKK373m in Q2, with 53.0% of amounts wagered by mobile, which outpaced land-based stakes at 32.2% and desktop betting at 14.8%.

Land-Based

Denmark's biggest second quarter declines came in the land-based segments of casino revenue (down 83%) and (down 72.9%) to DKK99m.

Self-Exclusion Component

During the pandemic, Spillemyndigheden encouraged players to rely on the national self-exclusion scheme Register Over Frivilligt Udelukkede Spillere (Rofus) and the helpline StopSpillet to manage stress or compulsive play.

Self-Exclusion Results

By 30 June, 23,469 people had taken advantage of Rofus, with 68.1% permanently self-excluding from gambling; 18.4% blocking access for six months; 8.8% for three months; and 4.7% for one month, with 75.4% of self-excluded players being men.

StopSpillet received 86 calls from players in Q2; and 413 calls from information seekers or phoning on behalf of another person.

Outlook

The rigorousness of self-monitoring indicates that Denmark is going to keep its players safe, no matter what the conditions and no matter what the market performance is like in a given moment.