Online betting rates rise in Denmark as calls for bonuses review grow
ONLINE betting in Denmark has surpassed more traditional forms of wagering, a report from the Gambling Authority has revealed.
The DGA, known as Spillemyndigheden, announced in its annual statement for 2017 that the online market accounts for 51.5% of all gambling revenues generated in the country which has a population of 5 .7 million people, increasing from 47.4%.
The Danes are considered forward thinking, and it appears that mobile internet casino betting is perfectly in tune with their way of life.
Betting on mobile devices overtook PC betting to surge to 54.5% of all betting activity done online, increasing from 46.7% obtained at the start of 2017.
The total revenues generated from betting for the 2017 is approximately $964 million, the biggest share of this revenue was generated from lottery, online casinos finished in the second place with $290 million, followed by gambling machines that made $239 while land-based casinos occupied the last place with $60 million.
The gross betting earnings from lotteries, which happen to be the biggest individual component in the total Danish betting market making up 33.6% of total betting revenues, the indicated total gross revenue of $498 million, staying strong year on year.
With regards to games analysis, the latest statistics from the DGA indicated that Danish people have a preference for slots more than other types of games, with online slots making up 61.5% of all betting revenue, roulette comes next at 11 .3% of the entire online betting revenue, followed by blackjack at 10 .4%, the next position is occupied by specialty games and other games such as craps as at 9.5%, the last place was occupied by poker games at 7 .3%.
“Total GGR (Gross Gaming Revenue ) for the Danish gambling sector has grown each year since 2014… it can be seen that the total gambling market grew by 371 million kroner ($59.6 million), or 4.2 percent, between 2016 and 2017.
However, growth in total GGR for the gambling market is solely due to higher GGR in the markets for betting and online casinos. The strength of the legal markets for betting and online casinos since liberalization explains why the lottery sector is decreasing proportionately.”
Politicians say casino bonuses need to be clamped down on
The rise of internet betting in Denmark has created other worries, with legislators from both the Social Democrats and the Danish People’s Party demanding stricter control over bonuses offered by online casinos.
Online casino bonuses are used to attract new customers to gambling sites, with a number of casinos offering as much as $1,600 in matched funds as an incentive to join.
In his interview with the Danish press, a member of the parliament from the Social Democrats party, Jesper Petersen demanded that bonuses should be capped at $160, furthermore, he also asked that gambling conditions such as maximum cash out and playthrough requirements are made clearer.
Although both the ruling party as well as the party in opposition followed a similar path on the need to control bonuses, the left-wing inclined Socialist People’s Party has up the ante by demanding total prohibition of bonuses at online casinos.
This strategy, nevertheless, has been met with worry that such severe measure could result in a surge of unaccredited operators from in foreign countries focusing on Danish gamblers.
According to records released by the Danish Gaming Association, a total of 24 betting companies were prevented from entering the Danish market because of a lack of appropriate authorisations.
In the year 2017, Denmark has a total of 27 approved online casinos and 15 approved sports betting websites.