Danish market posts "strongest quarter since liberalisation"
World Cup boosts sports betting turnover by a third as online casino market grows 8% year-on-year
Danish regulator Spillemyndigheden says the country’s online gaming market enjoyed its strongest quarter since re-regulation in 2012 as the World Cup pushed sports betting revenues up by almost a third.
During the three months ended 30 June total sports betting GGR in the country reached DK445m (£47.5m), up 32% year-on-year and 7% sequentially, a rise the regulator attributed to temporary high betting activity.
The country’s online casino market also reported encouraging growth, rising 6% sequentially and 8% year-on-year to DK270m (£28.9m), however online poker GGR in the country fell 20% year-on-year to DK40m (£4.3m).
Spillemyndigheden has now forecast to record GGR of DK1.6bn (£171m) and DK1bn (£112m) from sports betting and online casino respectively throughout 2014, performances which would represent increases of 16% and 6% year-on-year.
The numbers are based on duty payments paid to the regulator by Danish licence holders.
The growth is likely to be welcomed by a number of foreign operators active in the country who are said to be deliberating over whether to hand back their licences due to Danske Spil’s continued dominance of the market.
One operator with a Danish licence told eGaming Review last month that the cost of fighting over the 40% of the market not currently held by Danske Spil would prove too high for some businesses.