Denmark Grows Safely and Effectively in Q1
Published July 8, 2018 by Lee R
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An encouraging figure of 9% growth for Denmark’s regulated gambling market revenue is attributed primarily to online casino licensees.
The Revenues
Denmark’s Spillemyndigheden regulatory agency’s new data indicates that Danish-licensed operators generated gross gaming revenue of DKK1.52b (US$236.3m) for Q1, representing a year-on-year 8.9% jump but a 7% drop from the Q4 2017, a quarter traditionally marked by a flurry of activity.
The Highest Vertical Rise
The sports betting vertical delivered the highest rise of 7% year-on-year to DKK555.4m, a 22% drop from Q4.
Sports Betting Channels
The most sports betting activity went through mobile devices, which gathered half of betting revenue (49.9%), followed by land-based (35.3%) and desktop (14.9%).
Bets v Turnover
Land-based wagering contributed 52% of individual bets but only 24% of betting turnover, with mobile accounting for 27.2% of bets but 54% of turnover while desktop wagering betting and turnover figures remained identical at 22%. In other words, individual bets were by far the highest per capita.
Biggest Vertical Contributor
The online casino vertical generated DKK520.8m in revenue, for a 25.5% year-on-year jump and 8.7% growth from Q4, with Spillemyndigheden for the first time in Q1 adding online bingo to online casino calculations.
Newest Contributor
The new vertical of online bingo contributed DKK15m in Q1, representing 2.9% of the online casino pie. As for growth, online bingo showed a steady progression over the first three months of 2018, as stakes rose from DKK5.2m in January to DKK8.5m in March.
Casino Contributions
Slots contributed the most to online casino revenues, at 66.5% followed by roulette (13.1%) and blackjack (10.8%).
Vertical Drops
Verticals in need of improvement include online poker, whose collective tournament and cash game revenue of DKK27.9m in Q1 represented a year-on-year drop from 2017’s DKK34.9m and quarterly drop from 2017’s Q4 contribution of DKK32.1m.
Land-based Contributions
The land-based arena experienced a revenue fall of 3.6% to DKK370.3m with the country’s seven brick-and-mortar casinos flatlining at roughly DKK92.7m.
Self Exclusion Figures
As for Denmark’s ROFUS self-exclusion gambling program, the registry has added nearly 2,000 names since the start of 2018, with the total amount of registrants reaching 14,871 by the end of Q1 and 10,122 confessed problem gamblers opting for the permanent ban from local betting operations.
Outlook
While the number seems high, the level of self-protection which the Danish citizens have invoked would suggest that ROFUS is doing it’s job, leaving the revenues and statistical data to be gathered from healthy gamblers or new entrants playing in safe environments. Denmark’s figures should even out and continue to rise.
