Sports betting in Denmark in the first two months of the year posted a small decline of 3.7%, whilst casinos also encountered some difficulties, but these losses were offset by massive revenue from gaming machines. 

Publishing its financial records for January and February 2022, the Danish Gambling Authority (DGA) – Spillemyndigheden – detailed that Denmark’s total GGR increased by 16% during the first two months of the year DKK 1.05bn (€141.1m).

Sports betting revenue stood at DKK 412 million (€55.3m) for the full two months, with DKK 228 million generated in January and DKK 184 million (€24.7m) in February.  

In comparison, betting takings for the corresponding two month period in 2021 was DKK 428 million, whilst for the individual months 2021 the figures stood at DKK 207 million (€27.8m) – a 10.5% increase in January – and DKK 221 million (€29.7m) – a 17% decline for February. 

Online casino revenue, meanwhile, also fell, albeit only a slight decline of 0.2% from DKK 476 million (€63.9m) in January-February 2021 to DKK 475 million (€63.8m) in January-February 2022.

Similarity to sports betting, January proved to be a more lucrative month for online casino with revenue increasing by 1.4% to DKK 261 million (€35m) from DKK 258 million (€34.6m), whilst February saw a drop of 2% from DKK 218 million (€29.3m) to DKK 214 million (€28.7m). 

Land-based casinos, meanwhile, saw a dramatic increase in revenue to over DKK 31 million (€4.1m), all of which was taken in February. This was, however, due to the reopening of the casino sector in that month. Denmark’s land-based casino venues were closed during the first two months of 2021 due to COVID-19 lockdown conditions.

The biggest driver of revenue for the first two months, however, was slot machines – which recorded a 42,630% increase to DKK 131 million (€17.6m), with DKK 22 million (€2.9m) in January and DKK 109 million (€14.6m) in February.