Denmark iGaming Drops As Retail Reopens

iGaming has been up in virtually every part of the world for the last few months, as countries fight to get retail businesses back up and running. Denmark has been one of the countries that have abided by its government's laws and listened to the precautionary procedures, slowing the spread of COVID-19, and recently opened retail shops including land-based casinos. 

Online casino and bookmaker sites saw profits increase over Q1 and Q2, but in Q3, Denmarks iGaming industry was at a decline, as brick and mortar casinos opened their doors. 

Last week, Denmark’s Spillemyndigheden regulatory agency releases a report that showed casinos with a local license generated revenue of US$244.2m over the three months ending September 30, which represents a 4.9% decline from the same period last year. This was still an increase from Q2, but the story could be the same in other countries as things get to the new normal and businesses open again.

Land-based casinos in Denmark were the only gambling vertical to grow in Q3, and they grew upwards of 6% to DKK87m, however, Danish slot halls stayed virtually the same as previous records at DKK334m. 

Online casinos dropped close to 2% to DKK555m, and slots accounted for the largest part of this revenue at 74%, growth of around 1.6 points year-on-year. Roulette and blackjack closed in second and third position with 10% and 7% of the revenue, respectively. Mobile gaming is now the preferred method of gaming as desktop computers continue to fall, down 4.5 points year-on-year.

These numbers showed that Danish citizens were not going crazy and gambling away their hard-earned cash during the pandemic lockdown, which is promising for other countries. 

Sports betting was down far greater than online casinos, decreasing 11% to DKK558m.