New joint Nordic gaming study begins collecting data
The unique study aims to map gambling habits in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.
Denmark.- Data collection has begun for a unique cross-jurisdiction study that aims to map gambling habits and problems across the Nordic region. The Pan-Nordic Gambling Study (PANG) will survey 150,000 people in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.
The objective of the joint research project is to collate comparable data on gambling in the region, including on prevalence, participation in different verticals, differences in licensed and unlicensed gambling participation among the Nordic nations and connections between gambling and health.
The data collection begins this month with 30,000 randomly selected people in each country being invited to participate. The findings will be published in a joint report in spring 2026. It’s expected that they will contribute to forming a base of knowledge for research and future decisions in gambling in a region that has stark differences in regulatory frameworks.
Denmark and Sweden have competitive regulated online gambling markets. Denmark was the first country in the region to launch a regulatory framework in 2012, and Sweden followed in 2019.
Finland and Norway both still have state monopolies over gambling. Under the new Finnish Gambling Act, the former is planning to end Veikkaus’s monopoly and liberalise its online gambling market by 2027, while Norway remains committed to keeping gambling under the control of Norsk Tipping and the horse racing betting operator Norsk Rikstoto.
According to Maria Vinberg, investigator at the Swedish gambling regulator Spelinspektionen, the study “will provide a basis for assessing gambling and gambling problems in the Nordic countries”. She added: “It will be exciting to compare the results with previous Swedish data and with the rest of the Nordic countries, especially since so few similar joint surveys have been conducted in Europe.”
