Danish channelisation hits record high of 90% in 2020
The Danish Gambling Authority (Spillemyndigheden) has released its Gaming Market in Figures 2020 report, showing that channelisation in the jurisdiction reached a record high of 90% last year.
The level of channelisation, or players who used operators which are licensed by the local regulator, was up slightly from 88% in 2019, but showed a significant increase from 69% in 2012 when the market was liberalised.
According to the report, in Europe only the UK, Italy, the Czech Republic and Spain have a higher rate of channelisation than Denmark.
The report also showed that gross gaming revenue (GGR) across all verticals in the jurisdiction was down 6.5% in 2020, at DKK9.17bn (£1.05bn/€1.23bn/$1.47bn). Previously, the regulator had published figures for all verticals besides lottery.
Of the total GGR given, the biggest contributor was the lotteries industry, which brought in DKK3.20bn, down 0.1% on 2019’s figure. Next, online casino brought in DKK2.45bn, a slight increase from DKK2.35bn..
The Danish Gambling Authority (Spillemyndigheden) has released its Gaming Market in Figures 2020 report, showing that channelisation in the jurisdiction reached a record high of 90% last year.
The level of channelisation, or players who used operators which are licensed by the local regulator, was up slightly from 88% in 2019, but showed a significant increase from 69% in 2012 when the market was liberalised.
According to the report, in Europe only the UK, Italy, the Czech Republic and Spain have a higher rate of channelisation than Denmark.
The report also showed that gross gaming revenue (GGR) across all verticals in the jurisdiction was down 6.5% in 2020, at DKK9.17bn (£1.05bn/€1.23bn/$1.47bn). Previously, the regulator had published figures for all verticals besides lottery.
Of the total GGR given, the biggest contributor was the lotteries industry, which brought in DKK3.20bn, down 0.1% on 2019’s figure. Next, online casino brought in DKK2.45bn, a slight increase from DKK2.35bn in 2019, whereas sports betting was down 8.9%, at DKK2.29bn.
Slot machines brought in a significantly reduced sum, down 29.3% to DKK986m, while land-based casinos’ contribution fell 31.7% to DKK239m.
The report showed that in 2020, Denmark had a total of 771 licensees offering gambling, as well as 360 further non-profit lotteries which are reported to the Gambling Authority but do not require a licence.
The regulator held 375 permits for non-profit lotteries in 2020, along with 325 permits for slot machines, 35 for online casino including 3 revenue limited licences, 23 for sports betting including 4 revenue restricted permits, and 9 for land-based casinos.
The report showed how the jurisdiction’s total GGR corresponded to Denmark’s gross domestic product (GDP), as a way of measuring the gaming industry’s performance against the economy more broadly.
In 2020, GGR accounted for 0.39% of Denmark’s GDP, which was a reduction compared to 0.42% in 2019, however the figure has remained stable between 0.39% and 0.43% since 2012.
The average spend on gaming per person came to DKK37.80 per week in 2020, compared to DKK40.62 in 2019.
The market share spent on online gaming compared to land-based increased to 59% last year, compared to 54% in 2019. This figure has been steadily growing from around 31% in 2012, and may have been accelerated last year by land-based closures caused by the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
Of the online spend, 64% came from customers using mobile devices, up from 60% in 2019.
The largest demographic group which made up Danish online gambling customers was men aged 26-35, accounting for 23% of online players. Overall, men made up 76% of online gaming accounts, while women held the remaining 24%.
This represents a significant change from 2019, when women held just 19% of online gaming accounts in Denmark.
The report showed where Denmark ranked in Europe in terms of average spend per capita, showing that the country comes in seventh place for the jurisdictions that spend the most money on gaming per adult in 2020.
Its average annual consumption of DKK2,086 per adult put the jurisdiction behind all the other Nordic countries – Norway, Finland, Iceland and Sweden – as well as Malta and Ireland, in spend. However, Denmark was still ahead of the UK, Italy and Cyprus, which make up the rest of the top ten gaming spenders per capita in Europe.
