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Denmark opened its online gambling market to licensed private operators on 1 January 2012, and today 73% of Danish gambling revenue comes from online play. Every Danish online casino and betting site answers to Spillemyndigheden, the Danish Gambling Authority (DGA), which licenses operators, runs the ROFUS self-exclusion register and gets illegal sites blocked by the courts.
Denmark’s player rules are among the most detailed in Europe: MitID verification, compulsory deposit limits, a DKK 1,000 cap on bonuses and player money protected if an operator goes bankrupt. But in April 2025 Denmark’s National Audit Office called the DGA’s oversight of online gambling “unsatisfactory”, and that criticism is part of the picture too.
This review covers what Spillemyndigheden regulates, how a Danish licence works and what it costs, the 28% gambling duty, the Danish rules for online gambling, ROFUS, complaints, how to check a licence, enforcement and pending reforms. Facts come from the Danish Gambling Act and executive orders on Retsinformation, the DGA’s own pages, register, statistics and reports, and the Danish Tax Agency’s legal guidance, checked on 16 October 2026.
Spillemyndigheden at a glance (verified 16 October 2026)
What Is Spillemyndigheden?
Spillemyndigheden was founded in 2000 under the Danish tax ministry. For its first decade it mainly supervised gaming machines, the land-based casinos and the then-monopoly Danske Spil. The current Danish Gambling Act (spilleloven) took effect on 1 January 2012 and partly liberalised the market, and on 1 January 2013 the DGA became an independent agency with its own director.
- Leadership: director Anders Dorph, in post since November 2020, who also chairs GREF, the Gaming Regulators European Forum.
- Location and size: Lerchesgade 35 in Odense, with around 140 to 150 staff, including inspectors around the country.
- Remit: online casino and betting, land-based casinos, gaming machines in arcades and restaurants, land-based bingo, poker and charity lotteries. It also supervises operators’ anti-money laundering compliance, game suppliers and match-fixing prevention.
- Monopoly left in place: lotto and scratch cards remain a monopoly of Danske Lotteri Spil. The state-owned group’s betting and casino arm, Danske Licens Spil, competes as an ordinary licensee.
The Danish Gambling Act and the Spillemyndigheden License
Under the Danish Gambling Act there are two main online licences, and an operator can hold both:
- Online casino licence: roulette, baccarat, punto banco, blackjack, poker, online bingo, slots and combination games.
- Betting licence: online and land-based betting.
Licences run for up to five years. Smaller players can get one-year income-limited licences, and since 1 January 2026 a new low-cost online casino licence lets small associations, such as the local walkie-talkie and radio bingo clubs, operate legally. Applicants must be established in Denmark, the EU or the EEA, or appoint an approved representative in Denmark. Owners and managers are vetted, games must come from DGA-licensed suppliers, systems must be certified by an accredited test house, and an approved auditor must file an annual compliance report. Fees are indexed every year:
| Fee | Amount (DKK) |
|---|---|
| Application: online casino or betting | 343,300 |
| Application: online casino and betting combined | 480,600 |
| Annual fee: GGR under DKK 5 million | 73,200 |
| Annual fee: GGR DKK 25–50 million | 658,500 |
| Annual fee: GGR DKK 100–200 million | 2,195,000 |
| Annual fee: GGR DKK 500 million and above | 6,447,500 |
There are eight annual fee bands in all, and the fees fund supervision, ROFUS and the fight against match-fixing. At the end of 2025 there were 41 online casino licences and 27 betting licences, a handful of them income-limited.
Danish Gambling Duty: 28%
Licensed online casino and betting operators pay a gambling duty of 28% of gross gaming revenue (stakes minus winnings), filed and paid monthly to the Danish Tax Agency. The rate rose from 20% in 2021; some guides still quote the old figure. Bonuses and free play count as marketing costs and can’t be deducted.
Land-based casinos pay far more: 45% of gross gaming revenue plus a 30% surcharge on monthly revenue above about DKK 5 million. For players, the DGA notes that duty has already been paid on winnings when you play with a Danish-licensed operator; some prizes, such as certain poker winnings, can still be taxable as income.
Danish Rules for Online Gambling
The executive order on online casino sets out the rules every licensed site must follow:
| Area | The rule |
|---|---|
| Age and identity | 18+. You register with your CPR number and verify with MitID; an unverified temporary account allows at most DKK 10,000 in deposits and no withdrawals. |
| Deposit limit | You must choose a daily, weekly or monthly deposit limit before playing. Increases take effect after 24 hours. |
| Bonuses | Worth at most DKK 1,000, wagering capped at 10 times deposit plus bonus, all games count 100%, at least 60 days to complete. |
| Player funds | Held in a separate account that can't be offset and is protected if the operator goes bankrupt. |
| Self-exclusion | At the operator: a 24-hour break, 30 days or more, or permanent closure; nationally through ROFUS. |
| Credit and payments | No credit to players and no cash deposits; payments need MitID or strong authentication. |
| Marketing | No ads aimed at under-18s; every ad must show the age limit, the StopSpillet helpline, ROFUS and the DGA label; no marketing to excluded players. |
The protection of player money has been tested in court. When DK Gambling ApS went bankrupt in 2022, the High Court ruled in November 2025 that the money on its player account was separately protected; the case goes to the Supreme Court in March 2027, with the DGA supporting the player. Help is available through StopSpillet, the DGA’s free and confidential helpline on 70 22 28 25, which handled 727 enquiries in 2025.
The need is real. A 2021 study for the DGA found that 10.9% of Danish adults showed some sign of a gambling problem, though most were low-risk; 0.7% had a severe problem.
How to Register With ROFUS
-
Step 1
Go to rofus.nu, the official site of the national register of voluntarily excluded players run by Spillemyndigheden.
-
Step 2
Log in with MitID.
-
Step 3
Choose a period: 24 hours, 1, 3 or 6 months, or permanent.
-
Step 4
The exclusion covers every Danish-licensed online casino and betting site, land-based casinos and betting in shops. Licensed operators check ROFUS at sign-up and every login, and can't send you marketing.
-
Step 5
Temporary exclusions can't be cancelled early. A permanent exclusion can be lifted no sooner than one year after registering.
ROFUS has grown quickly: 55,899 people were registered at the end of 2024, 68,026 a year later and 74,714 by September 2026. About 65% choose permanent exclusion, and 79% of registrants are men.
How to Complain About a Danish Casino
Spillemyndigheden says plainly that it “is not a complaints body” and can’t decide disputes between players and operators. The route is:
- Complain to the operator. If it can’t decide within 14 days, it must tell you when to expect an answer.
- Go to the consumer mediation service (Mæglingsteamet for Forbrugerklager), which must be tried first.
- Take it to the Consumer Complaints Board (Forbrugerklagenævnet), which issues binding decisions.
- Or go to court.
Complaints about gambling ads go to the Consumer Ombudsman. You can still report an operator’s conduct to the DGA, but it won’t report back on individual cases.
How to Check a Danish Gambling License
Denmark makes licensed sites easy to spot:
- Look for the DGA label (Spillemyndighedens mærke) on the front page. Licensed operators must display it and state that they’re licensed and supervised by Spillemyndigheden. The DGA calls the label your guarantee that a site is legal in Denmark.
- Check the register of licensed operators, which lists each company with its licence types and approved websites, most of them on .dk addresses.
- Make sure the site asks for MitID and a deposit limit at sign-up. A site that doesn’t is not following Danish rules.
- Check the blocked list if in doubt. The DGA publishes every site it has had blocked.
Enforcement and the Audit Office Verdict
In April 2025 Rigsrevisionen, the National Audit Office, published a report on the DGA’s work on online gambling, and the parliamentary auditors called it “unsatisfactory”. Between 2020 and 2024, the DGA had issued 274 written warnings to online licensees and made 13 police reports covering 10 operators, but had imposed no administrative fines and revoked no licences, and had not systematically followed up on whether its warnings were obeyed. It took on average 14.5 months from finding an illegal site to blocking it, which the auditors called “very unsatisfactory”. The minister called the lack of follow-up regrettable and said it had been fixed.
Blocking has since accelerated sharply. Sites are blocked by Danish internet providers after a court order, now twice a year, and a new agreement allows mirror sites to be blocked without a fresh order:
| Year | Sites blocked |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 55 |
| 2022 | 82 |
| 2023 | 49 |
| 2024 | 162 |
| 2025 | 334 |
| Total since 2012 (August 2026) | 870 |
The DGA has the power to block payments to illegal sites but, as of the audit, had never used it. Its anti-money laundering work is more visible: it publishes named orders and reprimands, and licensees including Unibet, bet365, LeoVegas, Mr Green, Betfair, PokerStars, Skill on Net and the state-owned Danske Licens Spil have all been reprimanded since 2021. Tipwin accepted a DKK 100,000 fine after a 2022 police report, and in 2026 the DGA reported Betano’s operator Insipia to the police. Streamers promoting illegal sites have been fined too.
Reform is on the way. A broad political agreement in October 2025, Spilpakke 1, includes a whistle-to-whistle ban on betting ads around matches, a ban on people under 25 in gambling ads, restrictions near schools and on public transport, and stronger powers against illegal sites and affiliates. The first bill lapsed with the March 2026 election and was re-tabled in October 2026, with changes planned to phase in during 2027.
Denmark wrote some of Europe's best player rules in 2012. The audit office's message in 2025 was that writing them isn't the same as enforcing them.
Danish Online Casino Sites and Land-Based Casinos
Online casino became Danes’ favourite form of gambling in 2025 for the first time, with gross gaming revenue of DKK 4.3 billion, ahead of lotteries at DKK 3.5 billion and betting at DKK 2.1 billion. Danish online casino sites licensed by Spillemyndigheden include:
- Danish brands: Danske Spil and Tivoli Casino, Bet25 and CasinoGo, Spilnu, Royal Casino, Spilhuset and Bingo.dk.
- International brands: bet365, Unibet and Maria Casino, LeoVegas, Mr Green, Betsson and NordicBet, 888, bwin, PokerStars, ComeOn, Betano, Mr Vegas and PlayOJO.
Looking for the best Danish casino sites? Start with the label and the register: only a Danish-licensed site can legally accept Danish players, and it comes with MitID checks, ROFUS, deposit limits, capped bonuses and protected player funds. Casinos accepting Danish players without a Danish licence are illegal, and the DGA has them blocked. The rules seem to work: the last published estimate, an H2 Gambling Capital figure for 2024, put 91.5% of Danish online gambling with licensed operators. As we review casinos holding a Danish licence, they appear automatically in the list at the bottom of this page, ranked by FAQsino Trust Score.
The industry has its own voices. The Danish Online Gambling Association commissioned forecasts warning the 2021 tax rise would push players offshore, and Spillebranchen, the industry’s trade body, now campaigns on issues such as the state’s role through Danske Spil. Offline, Denmark has seven licensed land-based casinos, in Copenhagen, Helsingør, Odense, Vejle, Aarhus and Aalborg, and the DGA is taking applications for new casino licences until 3 November 2026.
Denmark vs Sweden, the UK and Germany
How the Danish gambling regulator compares with other strict European regulators:
| Denmark (DGA) | Sweden | UK (UKGC) | Germany (GGL) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Online casino tax | 28% of GGR | 22% of net gaming revenue | 40% of profits | 5.3% of stakes |
| National self-exclusion | ROFUS | Spelpaus | GAMSTOP | OASIS |
| Deposit limit | Player must set one | Player must set one | No national requirement | €1,000/month across operators |
Denmark and Sweden share the Nordic model of compulsory deposit limits and a national exclusion register. Denmark adds a hard DKK 1,000 cap on bonus size (Sweden allows one bonus per operator; the UK caps wagering at 10x) and protected player funds, while the UK leads on enforcement and formal dispute resolution.
Our Verdict on Spillemyndigheden
For players, a Spillemyndigheden licence is one of the strongest in Europe. MitID verification, compulsory deposit limits, ROFUS checks at every login, a DKK 1,000 bonus cap with modest wagering, and player funds protected in bankruptcy add up to genuine protection, and the DGA label and register make legal sites easy to identify. Its statistics and named decisions are refreshingly open.
The weak points are enforcement and redress. The audit office found years of warnings without follow-up, no fines and slow blocking, and the DGA doesn’t handle player complaints. Blocking has sped up and a reform package is coming, but the record is still catching up with the rulebook.
If you’re in Denmark, look for the DGA label, check the register, and play only where you sign up with MitID.
