Denmark
Denmark opened a licensed online gambling market on 1 January 2012, ending the former state monopoly for online betting and casino. Licences are issued and supervised by Spillemyndigheden (the Danish Gambling Authority), a body under the Ministry of Taxation. Operators can hold an online betting licence, an online casino licence, or a combined licence, and must meet player-protection, anti-money-laundering and technical-standards requirements. Since 1 January 2021 online betting and online casino gross gaming revenue has been taxed at a single 28% rate.
Tax authority as regulator
Denmark's licensed market opened on 1 January 2012, replacing a state monopoly on online betting and casino with a competitive licensing regime. Spillemyndigheden sits under the Ministry of Taxation rather than a culture or interior ministry, reflecting a revenue-and-compliance orientation. That institutional home helps explain why gambling duties are administered alongside other taxes, with monthly self-reporting, and why licensing is tightly coupled to fiscal control. For a diligence reader, it signals that tax collection and market supervision sit within one ministerial chain rather than being split across separate bodies with divergent priorities.
Single rate, tiered fees
The headline duty is a single 28 per cent of gross gaming revenue on both online betting and online casino, in force since 1 January 2021 after rising from 20 per cent. Because the rate is uniform across the two verticals and reported per calendar month, the marginal cost falls on net win rather than turnover. Annual licence fees are instead tiered by GGR, so lower-volume holders pay materially less than the largest operators. Land-based casinos sit on a separate, higher progressive scale, meaning the online figure cannot simply be read across to physical venues.
ROFUS and exclusion
Player protection centres on ROFUS, the national self-exclusion register. Licensed operators must check a customer's ROFUS status before granting access to gambling and must not market to registered individuals; a permanent exclusion obliges the operator to close the account and return any balance. Registration blocks a player across all Danish-licensed online gambling and land-based casinos and betting, so the control is market-wide rather than operator-specific. Because the register is centrally maintained and integration is a condition of the licence, the mechanism is a structural feature of operating in Denmark rather than a voluntary undertaking.
Enforcement and AML
Enforcement combines fiscal oversight with market policing. Spillemyndigheden pursues unlicensed operators, and Danish law has provided for court-ordered blocking of illegal gambling sites, alongside action against unlawful marketing. As a designated supervisory authority under Denmark's anti-money-laundering framework, the regulator also oversees licensees' customer due diligence, monitoring and reporting obligations. Combined with monthly tax reporting and the certification regime, this places licence holders under continuous supervision spanning conduct, financial-crime controls and fiscal accuracy, rather than a one-off approval at entry.
Tax
GGR
28% of GGR (online betting and online casino)
Single 28% rate on GGR since 1 January 2021, raised from the previous 20%; calculated, reported and paid per calendar month. Land-based casinos are taxed on a different, higher progressive scale. Annual licence fees are tiered by GGR from DKK 69,800 to DKK 6,151,700 (2025 level); application fees are DKK 327,500 for a single betting or online-casino licence and DKK 458,500 for a combined licence.
Key facts
Denmark across the portal
RTP rules
No statutory minimum RTP. The Danish Gambling Authority's certification programme sets no minimum payout percentage; it regulates RNG integrity and the accuracy of the stated return instead.
Certification Programme SCP.07.03 (Requirements for games — online casino), section 3.3, requires the game platform to inform the customer of the theoretical return to player, under optimal strategy, in the game rules for each game; the stated figure must be correct and must not be manipulated to hold a constant return, and jackpot contributions must be reflected in it.
Licence types
Fees
Change-watch
New B2B game-supplier licensing requirement and updated game-certification programme took effect 1 January 2025; revised Executive Orders for betting and online casino issued June 2025.
Sources (4)
Not legal or tax advice. This is a teaching summary; confirm every figure against the primary regulator (Spillemyndigheden (Danish Gambling Authority)) before relying on it.