Danish gambling regulator highlights enforcement action against 334 unlicensed websites
Spillemyndigheden says the rise in blocked domains reflects stronger surveillance, not growth in unlicensed gambling.
Denmark.- The Danish gambling regulator, Spillemyndigheden, has highlighted its enforcement action against unlicensed online operators in 2025. Its annual report states that it obtained court approval to block 334 illegal websites aimed at Danish players.
The report says that 695 sites were flagged for review in collaboration with the Danish Tax Authority’s anti‑fraud division. Of these, 334 were ultimately confirmed by the courts as offering gambling without a Danish licence and subject to blocking, while 36 withdrew or altered their services after regulatory pressure.
Spillemyndigheden believes that the rise in blocked domains reflected stronger surveillance rather than growth in the black market, although a full channelisation study will not be ready until later in the year.
As for the effectiveness of DNS‑level blocking, independent traffic data suggests that Danish visits to 178 sites blocked in June 2025 fell by around 34 per cent in the subsequent six months. However, the regulator said that the results were mixed, with some domains showing little change.
Spillemyndigheden also noted that to strengthen enforcement, it has expanded its partnership with Teleindustrien, the Danish ISP trade body, to enable dynamic blocking of mirror or “clone” sites without the need to obtain new court orders each time.
These measures coincided with October 2025’s Spilpakke 1 legislation, which enhances protections for minors and vulnerable groups, widening the regulator’s powers to block affiliate and referral sites while also introducing tougher advertising rules, including a whistle‑to‑whistle ban on betting promotions during live sports.
The regulator also flagged a growing presence of illegal gambling promotions via mobile apps and social/streaming platforms. Formal complaint channels have been established with Apple and Google to speed up removal of illicit apps, while licensed operators gained tools to report brand misuse directly to Meta, improving takedown times, it said.
Spillemyndigheden calculates that Danish gross gaming revenue (GGR) reached DKK 11.5bn (€1.53bn) in 2025, down 1 per cent from 2024. Adjusted for inflation, revenue was 4.9 per cent below the level of 2012, when Denmark liberalised its gambling sector.
Online casino gaming surpassed lottery offerings as the country’s largest gambling segment, representing 38 per cent of the overall market. The vertical generated GGR of DKK4.31bn, a rise of 12.1 per cent year‑on‑year.
