In 2020, an unprecedented phenomenon occurred in Denmark – for the first time since the liberalization of the gambling market, online casinos overtook sports betting in terms of GGR. Representatives of the platform of technological solutions for the gambling business BtoBet announced this in their report.
SBCNEWS writes that online casino gross revenue in 2020 was DKK 2,453 million, a 27% market share, while sports betting grossed DKK 2.29 million, representing 25% of the industry. The main reason for this situation was the pandemic, which paralyzed the sports sector for a year. But it is noted that for licensed casino operators, 2020 also became a difficult year: the new regulation related to quarantine changed the certification conditions – limits were set on daily, weekly and monthly deposits for players. But even this limitation could not stop the 5% growth in online gambling compared to 2019. Experts are eagerly awaiting the impact of the sports thaw and the new public regulation (concerning both sports and gambling) on the results of the training camp in 2021. So, when sports restrictions were partially lifted, in October, the highest growth in GRR was recorded in the entire history of the gambling business in Denmark.
In total for 2020, classic and online casinos, slot machines, sports betting lotteries brought in 9.173 billion kroons of gross revenue, which is 6.5% lower than in 2019. Last year, the average expenditure on gambling for an adult Dane was almost 38 kroons. 13 of them are for lotteries and only 1 crown for land-based casinos. Meanwhile, the Latvian authorities want to change the tax model for gambling, abandoning the flat rate on gambling and linking the tax to real income.