Danish regulator hails success of StopSpillet gambling helpline

The regulator says the helpline is meeting requirements and reaching its target groups but that more awareness was needed.

Denmark.- The gambling regulator Spillemyndigheden has reported the results of a study into Denmark’s gambling helpline, StopSpillet, which it launched in 2019. It said the results showed that the helpline was reaching its targets and meeting requirements.

The study shows that 87 per cent of callers are men and 35 per cent men between the ages of 18 and 25. It found that half of callers began gambling before they were 18, which the regulator said backed up other research that had found a correlation between gambling at an early age and developing an addiction.

The regulator added that many callers had experienced gambling-related harm for an extended period of time – two-and-a-half years on average. As for the types of gambling, 62 per cent of callers used online gambling, compared to 26 per cent who tended to use land-based gambling. Other types of gambling accounted for 12 per cent.

Men spent the most money on gambling – DKK13,200 (€1780) per month on average. Women callers spent an average of DKK9300 per month but spent more time gambling, citing 30 hours per week compared to an average of 19 hours per week for men.

As for callers who made contact because relatives were experiencing gambling-related harm, 66 per cent of callers were women, with women aged 46 to 55 the largest group.

The regulator said: “The study shows that gambling problems are generally increasing, both among adults and young people. The figures in the survey indicate that more people could benefit from knowing about and using StopSpillet.”

Spillemyndigheden has confirmed that it will be involved in a new initiative against money laundering in the country. Led by the Ministry of Justice, the strategy will also involve Denmark’s Financial Supervisory Authority, Bar Council and the Danish Business Authority.

The Money Laundering Secretariat and Police Intelligence Services have identified currency exchange and money transfer, high-value goods, neo-banks, cryptocurrency, the gambling sector and some areas of the non-profit sector as those that pose the greatest risk for money laundering and terrorist financing.

In July, Spillemyndigheden reprimanded the online gambling operator Casumo for breaching the Danish Money Laundering Act through failings in its risk assessments. The regulator found that until March 11, Casumo did not have adequate identification and risk assessment of customer types.

Its risk assessments also failed to include separate identification and risk assessment for different types of products. The operator also failed to identify and risk-assess delivery channels as required because it had no risk assessment of its mobile app.