Danske Spil makes strong start post-regulation

Danish former monopoly Danske Spil has seen double-digit profit growth in the first year since the liberalisation of the dot.dk online gambling market, the operator has revealed in its annual report for the year ended 31 December.

The 13.8% increase came in part due to the online poker and casino offerings launched last January in partnership with bwin.party, with Danske Spil emerging as the market leader in the latter vertical while 10,000 poker players have registered for its dot.dk offering.

The operator had restructured its business in preparation for the opening of the country’s egaming market, with the Danske Licens Spil division dedicated to online activities, and the group saw gross gaming revenue across online and offline rose 5.5% year-on-year to DKK4.1bn (£471.5m). However the online element was not broken out.

Danske Spil’s annual figures come as the Danish Gambling Authority recorded strong first-year figures after regulation, with online casino contributing more than 11% of the country’s overall gambling market and online sports betting representing 15.7%.

Last year saw Danske Spil announce that it had selected OpenBet to provide its sports betting platform, following a tender process which opened in November 2011. At the time, the platform was expected to be up and running this year. eGaming Review was unable to reach Danske Spil for further comment at the time of writing.