SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Data released by the Danish Gambling Authority, Spillemyndigheden, has shown a fall in the number of people gambling during the coronavirus crisis.
Since 11 March, all land-based casinos and gambling venues have been closed across the country, while almost all sporting events have been cancelled.
Morten Niels Jakobsen, Director of the Danish Gambling Authority, said: “It very much looks like some of the measures that have been put in place in connection with the lockdown of Denmark has had an effect on parts of the gambling market – particularly on betting, land-based casinos and gaming machines.”
When comparing betting from 9 March to 3 May 2020 with the same period in 2019, data has shown a 60% drop in deposits made via licenced operators. The regulator disclosed that this decline is expected to continue until sports events resume.
But despite the fall in betting across both retail and online, online casinos have seen a 2% increase in deposits made during the lockdown from 9 March to 3 May 2020, compared to the same period last year.
This increase, however, cannot be indicative of a shift of ‘gambling activities from one gambling sector to another’ according to the regulator, due to the online casino sector currently being ‘a market in growth’.
“Although it is still too soon to measure the full effect of the coronavirus crisis on the gambling market, it does not appear as if the decrease in gambling at land-based casinos and gaming machines as well as betting has caused an increase in gambling on online casino,” added Jakobsen.
The Danish Gambling Authority will continue to closely monitor the Danish gambling market and will examine how the markets react when certain activities are resumed.
