Online casinos accepting players from Denmark

Denmark is a Nordic country with a long history of state-sanctioned and regulated gambling. State-run lotteries date back to the time of King Frederick V with the founding of the Royal Copenhagen Class Lottery. In 1948, Danske Spil A/S was organized to launch betting on 12 football games as 1-X-2 TOTO.

The government monopoly lessened it's grip on power long after the country joined the European Union. Yet, Denmark was one of the first EU member states to liberalize their gambling markets on January 1, 2012. Today, the Danish Gambling Act (DGA), as well as Executive Orders beginning in 2011, are the law of the land.

Casino Licensing in Denmark

Two fairly broad categories of licenses are issued: Online and land-based. Online licenses include virtual casino and betting licenses. Land-based licenses are of two sorts, gambling machines only, and casino licenses.

The number of gambling machines in the country is not published in English by the government on their website, nor do they list land casino license holders for the public. All statistics and reports are now graphical in nature and reserved to the Dansk and Suomi languages.

Statistics from 2012 to the present past quarter are available in powerbi format (similar to Powerpoint) for web browsers here. 

We find over 20 casinos, racecourses, and casino cruise ships with the most important casinos in Copenhagen, Aalborg, Aarhus, Odense, Helsinger, and Vejle listed on the World Casino Directory Denmark pages. 

Two Subcategories of Online Licenses...

Online casino and betting licenses are further subcategorized by gross gaming revenues with low-earning venues holding limited licenses.

Since open gambling competition has come to the land of light and legends, a plethora of well-known names received online betting and casino gambling licenses from the authorities. Among the most well-known outside of the Nordic region are 888, Casino Action, Betfair, Bethard, Betway, Betsafe, Casumo, Comeon, BwinParty, bet365, LeoVegas, and Mr Green.

The most prolific license holder is SkillonNet with about thirty B2C and white label operations. PlayOjo, QueenVegas, and other SkillonNet sites operate on dot dk and dot com top-level domains, but all are licensed for play in Denmark.

Legal Enforcement Actions

Credit may not be offered, therefore there are no legal gambling debts. Illegal gambling debts are not enforceable by law.

Danish courts have no qualms about blocking the IP address of certain enterprises they deem to be "operating in a manner contrary to the public well-being".

In 2018 over 700 internet gambling sites were listed as being in violation of the DGA. In early 2019 a court in Copenhagen upheld the authority's blocking of 25 online gambling sites. Only 10 of these offered casino games or sports betting, the other 15 were said to be targeting people under the age of 18 with 'skin betting'.

Advertising bans, internet-blocking, and payment blocking are all tools under the DGA the authority uses to protect government revenues via protecting license holders, as well as to protect vulnerable and underaged Danes.

Enforcement action is not taken against players or even the casino and betting sites by the government. Rather, site administrators are given a petition. If they do not comply, the authority will force Danish ISPs, banks, and media outlets to block access to the sites.

This rarely results in unauthorized sites terminating services to players in the country for the following reasons:

DNS Blocking
Users can easily bypass DNS blocking, and as it is not illegal for players to do so, they continue to visit the sites.

Payment Blocking
Although Danish payment processors are required to stop the transfer of money to and from casinos by Danish players, they have no little or no power over foreign banks to stop them from transferring money to Danish financial institutions, international transaction services like PayPal, or the ability to stop transactions from Danish banks to foreign banks.

Advertising Bans
It is illegal to advertise an unlicensed casino in Denmark. Local media who flout the ban receive a petition demanding they cease and desist. If they don't stop, they are reported to the police. This does not stop internet advertising, nor does the government have the authority to tell businesses in another jurisdiction what they can do.

Casino Taxes in Denmark

Taxes and duties are in line with many other EU member states with a 20% duty on GGR for landbased and online betting operators and a 20% duty on commissions for betting exchanges and poker rake.

The formula for landbased operations is a bit more complicated with progressive duties on tiered profit levels and deductions for 'special tipping chips'.

Comps cannot be written off the GGR, only winnings players make from comps can be deducted. Operators are able to carry over negative revenue to the next year but must declare zero rather than a negative balance at year-end.

Responsible Gambling

Denmark takes the well being of its citizens very seriously and has established laws and executive orders/decrees to make sure the purpose of the Gambling Act are adhered to.

• Gambling services should only be consumed at a moderate level
• The vulnerable and young should be protected from gambling addiction
• Gambling services must be provided in a responsible, fair, and transparent manner
• Public order must be maintained and criminal enterprise may not enter the industry
• A self-exclusion database has been created and online casino software must check the database and refuse entrance to those who have chosen to use the tool
• Operators must monitor player consumption of services and provide cooling-off periods

KYC/AML and other safeguards including registered payment providers are in place.

As of late 2019, there were no special regulations regarding gambling with digital currencies, therefor, all Danish gambling law applies to cryptocurrency gambling that applies to fiat money transactions digital or otherwise.

Online Casino Games for Danish Players

Legal Danish Casinos offer all the games you would find at sites regulated by the UK.

Microgaming, NetEnt, Bally, Quickspin, Yggdrasil, IGT, and Evolution Gaming are among the developers and providers found in casinos serving Danish players. A list of license holders and their respective online casino domains can be found here.

Many overseas operators with a variety of other audited and certified online gambling games are still willing to accept players residing in Denmark even though they do not hold licenses issued by the gambling authority there.

Bonuses for Danish Players

The legislation states that all marketing (bonus) offers are to be clear and unambiguous, but, like in the UK, more detailed terms can be "one click away".

No special bonuses can be offered that have conditions different to those offered other players. Players have two months to complete wagering requirements or any other condition of the offer.

Unlicensed sites do not adhere to these guidelines and can incentivize players any way they choose to. In addition to the duties they must pay this may put some licensed establishments at a disadvantage.

The lack of taxes alone (20% of GGR) on an unlicensed site could account for a larger promotional budget and the ability to attract Danish gamblers with tempting and possibly lucrative offers.

We don't find much in the Act or Executive Orders that force licensed operators to offer fair terms, only that they are clear and easily accessible. The Danish Marketing Practices Act does set out that it is a violation to offer anything "free" (spins, bets, etc.) if it actually has a turnover or wagering requirement attached. 

Payment Methods for Danish Casinos Online

With regulation comes a sense of comfort and security in banking with an online casino. All of the common and well-known devices and facilities are available for most casino sites listed here and on the Spillemyndigheden (Gambling Authority) website.

Visa and Mastercard details are easily entered from your desktop or wallet.

EWallets like Skrill, Neteller, and PayPal are handy and offer a second level of security for your sensitive financial data.

Mobile payments also work well at some places with the extra security of using your mobile number, personal codes, and online banking portal.

Instant banking is a popular way to deposit and withdraw. Prepaid cards such as Paysafecard are almost always accepted. And ilixium's Bonus Voucher offers alternative banking methods for Danish players.

Denmark Online Casinos Conclusion

While there is no limit on the number of online casinos that can be licensed under current law in Denmark, market forces have probably set the limit with some wiggle room for the number to go up or down from time to time. We don't expect to see any wild swings in the number of licenses.

Licensed operators enjoy certain advantages and disadvantages when competing against properties that are not licensed by Danish Authorities. The most obvious of these is the benefit of using all of Denmarks media and advertising power to promote a legal online operation. On the other side of the equation, we see that 20% of GGR go to the government rather than to players in the form of bonuses and incentives.

It is illegal under Danish law to offer residents gambling services unless the operator is licensed there. There are no laws preventing Danes from bypassing ISP, or payment blocks. Prohibitions in other markets such as the United States and to some degree Canada and Australia have shown operators and players there is always a way around a roadblock.

The licensing regime gives players certain protections under the law and a competitive market is always better for players than a monopoly, even when the monopoly is run by the government.

Denmark's liberalization of their gambling market, even though restrictive in some sense, is in keeping with EU missions and directives for an open marketplace wherein other member states can compete.

Danes love to gamble, and they always will. The Nordic market of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland has been proactive and progressive in establishing reform and liberalization. This has resulted in increased player protections, increased revenue for the government, and increased GGR for many licensed operators.