Denmark Sees Sudden Declines in Q3

Amid the expansion of iGaming and the policy and regulation twists in its favour, not all is rosy on the individual market front.

Q3 Steps Back

Denmark is a good example, taking a step back for Q3 2016 as a result of declines in both sports betting and poker revenue.

Year-on-Year Measurements Misleading

Danish regulatory body Spillemyndigheden has released recently figures indicating quarterly declines in overall betting and online gaming revenue of DKK 910 (US $130m) in the three months ending September 30. The figures are DKK 20m improvements over 2015 year-on-year but still represent DKK 25m drops from Q2 2016 totals.

Biggest Decline

The biggest decline came in betting vertical, whose reported revenue of DKK 520m represented a full DKK 20m drop from Q2’s Euro 2016-including total, and DKK 40m below Q3 2015.  

Sequential Also Relevant

Spillemyndigheden acknowledge these figures to indicate betting’s first sequential decline since Denmark liberalized its market in 2012, which also stunts the momentum after three quarters of substantial growth.

Online Betting Sags 

Overall, online betting (DKK 335m) for the Q3 sequential decline, with land-based betting (DKK 185) remaining flat.

Q3 Revenue Breakdown

The further breakdown revealed online casino revenue (excluding poker) totalling DKK 355m, for a 22% year-on-year jump but across quarters. Slots’ share of the online casino take improved from 68% in Q2 to 70% in Q3, with roulette and blackjack each contributing 5-6% respectively and other casino products making up the remaining 10%.

Weak Links

Online poker dropped DKK 5m to DKK 35m, reducing its share of the casino pie by one point to 9%, bringing down online poker revenue totals to what Spillemyndigheden called the “weakest level” since the regulated market launched.

Land-based No Relief

Land-based performance was no better, with the roughly 25,500 gaming machines in gaming halls and restaurants generating DKK 370m, a figure representing DKK 15m less than Q3 2015.  As far as the take of the nation’s seven brick-and-mortar casinos, the DKK 95m figure represented the same sum as last year.

Outlook

The problem may not be clear yet in Denmark, but Spillemyndigheden is undoubtedly working to figure it out already.