Denmark’s gambling regulator, Spillemyndigheden, has stepped up its efforts to combat illegal online gambling in 2025, achieving significant success by securing court orders that resulted in the blocking of 334 unlicensed websites targeting Danish consumers.
In its recent annual report, Spillemyndigheden outlined its 2025 strategy, which melded proactive searches, data analytics, and public tips to identify websites engaging in illegal gambling activities. This initiative was bolstered through collaboration with the Danish Tax Authority’s anti-fraud unit, which examined 695 potential illicit platforms.
The courts confirmed that 334 websites offered gambling services without the requisite Danish licenses, leading to their blockage. Furthermore, 36 websites chose to voluntarily remove or adjust their gambling content following intervention from the regulator.
Spillemyndigheden clarified that the increase in blocked websites stemmed from enhanced surveillance efforts rather than a growth in the illegal gambling market. A comprehensive channelisation report is expected to be published in 2026.
The report highlighted the effects of DNS-level blocking on user behavior. Following the blocking of 178 sites in June 2025, third-party traffic analysis showed a roughly 34% decrease in visits to these sites over the next six months, although this data varied significantly, with some blocked domains not showing noticeable drops in traffic.
In light of these findings, Spillemyndigheden improved its collaboration with Teleindustrien, the organization representing Danish internet service providers, to facilitate the dynamic blocking of mirror or "clone" sites without needing separate court orders each time.
These enforcement actions were in alignment with new legislation, particularly the comprehensive "Spilpakke 1" package, which was enacted by a wide parliamentary majority in October 2025. This legislation strengthened protections for children and vulnerable individuals and expanded Spillemyndigheden's authority. It specifically allowed the regulator to block referral and affiliate websites leading Danish users to unlicensed operators, as well as broadened prohibitions on facilitative activities.
The package also introduced stringent new advertising restrictions, including a ban on gambling ads during live sports broadcasts that begins 10 minutes before an event and ends 10 minutes after it concludes.
The report also noted a trend toward illegal gambling marketing via mobile applications on iOS and Android, in addition to social media and streaming platforms. Spillemyndigheden established formal complaint processes with Apple and Google to speed up the removal of illicit applications from Danish app stores. Licensed operators can now directly report instances of brand misuse on Meta’s platforms, which has enhanced response times for content removal.
As online gaming continued to flourish, a recent market review indicated that online casinos surpassed lotteries as the leading segment of the Danish gambling sector in 2025. Online casinos achieved the highest gross gaming revenue (GGR), reaching DKK4.31 billion, which accounted for 38% of the market and marked a 12.1% year-over-year increase (DKK465 million), representing a staggering growth of 139% since 2012.
Overall, online gambling has maintained dominance in Denmark, making up 73% of total GGR in 2025, a rise from 70% in 2024 and a considerable increase from just 33% in 2012. Additionally, mobile devices emerged as the preferred platform for online gambling, with 73% of online gambling revenue originating from mobile channels in 2025, compared to 27% in 2012.
On the land-based gambling front, Spillemyndigheden was involved in 25 investigations concerning the unlawful installation or operation of gambling machines and betting terminals throughout 2025. According to the market report, land-based casinos experienced a 5.6% decline in GGR, totaling DKK378 million, which constituted 3% of the total gambling market. Newly liberalized land-based bingo surfaced for the first time, generating a modest GGR of DKK30 million, accounting for less than 1% of the market.
