According to data from H2 Gambling Capital in 2019, Finland had the highest average gambling spend per adult per year among the countries listed. Despite being the only legal operator, Veikkaus, Finland had an average spend of DKK3,148. Italy and Ireland followed in second and third place with DKK2,586 and DKK2,546 respectively.
Denmark’s Nordic neighbors, Iceland and Sweden, had an average wager of DKK2,216 and DKK2,163 respectively. Great Britain also had a slightly higher gambling spend than Denmark, with players spending DKK2,116. Only two countries in the sample had players gambling less than Denmark: Switzerland with DKK2,051 per person and Greece with DKK1,788.
Danish gamblers had a higher preference for sports betting compared to casino games or lotteries, when compared to other countries. While the average European bettor in the sampled countries spent only 16.6% of their gambling spend on betting, Danes spent 25.6%. Additionally, 41.7% of Danish gambling spend went on casino games, compared to 45.4% in the other sampled countries, and 32.7% went on lotteries compared to an average of 38.0%.
One potential reason for this variation could be that countries with online gambling monopolies, like Finland, have less appealing sports betting offerings. Spillemyndigheden, the Danish gambling regulator, recently reprimanded LeoVegas for deficiencies in its customer verification processes. An internal investigation revealed that some temporary accounts were converted to permanent accounts without the necessary checks due to an error. Additionally, Spillehallen.dk was previously penalized by the authority for an inadequate anti-money laundering policy.
