The Danish gambling market reached a landmark structural turning point in 2025. According to the annual market report "Spilmarkedet i tal 2025" released by the Danish Gambling Authority on Monday, online casinos, with a total gambling revenue of DKK 43.1 billion (approximately USD 17.5 billion), surpassed the monopoly lottery for the first time to become the largest gambling sector in Denmark, capturing a market share of 38%. This scenario has not occurred since the partial liberalization of the Danish gambling market in 2012. The PASA official website noted that this report not only records a change in ranking but also outlines a long-term trend that has lasted thirteen years—online and mobile transformations are completely reshaping the way Danes gamble.
Clear distinctions between the five major sectors: online is rising, offline is shrinking
Looking at the performance of each sector, the difference in temperature is quite intuitive. Online casinos reached a full-year GGR of DKK 43.1 billion, an increase of 12.1% compared to the previous year, and more than double the baseline of 2012 (+139%). In contrast, the long-standing top-ranked monopoly lottery (including lotto, classic lottery, and scratch cards) saw its revenue decline by 6.2% to DKK 34.9 billion, with its market share falling to 30%. Between the advance of one sector and the retreat of another, the entire market's center of gravity has quietly shifted.
Sports betting is also under pressure, with a year-on-year decrease of 11.5% to DKK 21.3 billion, accounting for 19% of the market. The data from the physical side is even colder: slot machine revenue DKK 11.8 billion, down 6.8%; physical casinos DKK 3.78 billion, down 5.6%. The only new face is the physical bingo, which was liberalized in January 2025, recording a modest start of DKK 30 million in its first year, accounting for less than 1%.
Overall, the total GGR of the Danish gambling market in 2025 was DKK 115 billion, a slight decrease of 1% (a reduction of DKK 1.16 billion). After adjusting for inflation and GDP growth to 2026 price levels, this figure is 4.9% lower than the 2012 baseline—meaning that, excluding price factors, the Danish gambling market is actually shrinking, with growth mainly concentrated in the online direction.
Mobile dominates everything: 73% of the money comes from mobile devices
The data on the rate of online adoption is even more straightforward. In 2025, online gambling accounted for 73% of the total GGR of the Danish market, while in 2012, this figure was only 33%. More notably, the dominant position of mobile devices—73% of online gambling revenue comes from mobile devices, with 69% of the GGR from online casino sectors generated through mobile phones. In a context where mobile has become the absolute mainstream channel, any operator that does not prioritize the mobile experience is essentially giving up more than two-thirds of potential users.
Online slots are the absolute core of the entire online casino sector, contributing 82% of the online casino GGR, amounting to DKK 35.4 billion. Roulette and blackjack each only account for about 6% (DKK 2.46 billion and DKK 2.67 billion respectively), almost negligible in front of slot machines.
The industry's supply side is also continuously expanding. By the end of 2025, the Danish Gambling Authority had issued a total of 1970 various gambling licenses, including 41 online casino licenses (including 3 temporary permits with a revenue cap of DKK 1 million), and 27 sports betting licenses. Digitain officially announced its entry into the Danish market in May this year, with its Group Chief Compliance Officer Arshak Mulkhian describing this breakthrough as "a particularly significant step in our European growth strategy."
The other side of problem gambling: 68,000 people voluntarily lock their accounts
The other side of growth is that the data on problem gambling continues to climb. The voluntary exclusion register expanded to 68,026 people in 2025, a net increase of about 12,000 people from the end of 2024. Among them, males account for 79%, with 69% aged under 40. The StopSpillet helpline received 727 consultations throughout the year, tying the record set since its establishment in 2019. Among the callers, 57% were gamblers themselves, 40% came from family members, and 45% of the gamblers indicated that they had started gambling before the age of 18.
According to the self-reports of those seeking help, the area most concentrated with problem gambling is precisely the sector that is growing the fastest—**62%** point to online casinos, 22% point to online betting. The severity of the problem is scored on a scale from 0 to 9, with an average score of 5.61, already in the moderate to severe range. PASA's official website believes that this set of data poses a not-so-easily avoidable question to an industry that is celebrating growth: Has the response speed of protective mechanisms kept up with the pace of expansion as the online adoption rate soared from 33% to 73%?
From 2012 to 2025, the Danish gambling market completed a comprehensive transition from offline to online, from monopoly to competition, from desktop to mobile. The surpassing of lotteries by online casinos is just a milestone on this path, and after the milestone, the delayed release of the channelization rate report and the continuous rise in problem gambling indicators are the real variables worth continuous tracking.
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This article is from "PASA-Global iGaming Leaders," a gambling industry news channel: https://t.me/pasa_news
Original deep channel for gambling: https://t.me/gamblingdeep
Free data reports: @pasa_research
PASA Matrix: @pasa002_bot
PASA official website: https://www.pasa.news
