Gambling regulation in Denmark

The regulator

Spillemyndigheden regulates gambling in Denmark and uses the Danish Gambling Authority as its English name; it is based in Odense, CVR 34730415. Each entry in its licence register also carries a Licensed in Greenland line — the field to read if you are playing from Greenland.

What requires a Danish licence

Two licence types cover online play; an operator may hold either or both, which the fee schedule evidences by pricing a combined licence. Both headings appear in Danish inside the English register.

• TILLADELSE: Onlinekasino

  Online casino

  Roulette, blackjack, baccarat, punto banco, poker, online bingo and gambling on gaming machines, plus other games carrying an element of both skill and chance.

• TILLADELSE: Væddemål

  Betting

  Games where participants try to predict the result of an event. The regulator’s page references online betting and local pool betting, and notes duties under anti-money-laundering law.

Two further categories are licensed on separate lists: slot machines and game suppliers.

Annual fees run on a ladder of eight gross-gaming-revenue tiers, from DKK 73,200 to DKK 6,447,500 at DKK 500 million and above. The page carries a 2025 column beside the 2026 one, so any figure must name its year. No page we read states how long a Danish licence runs.

Who needs a Danish licence, and whether a foreign one counts

The test is not where a company is registered. A game breaches the Danish Gambling Act where it is offered without a Danish licence and the operator is at the same time targeting the Danish market. A licence issued in Malta, Curaçao, Gibraltar or anywhere else does not extend to a consumer in Denmark.

The indicators the Authority publishes for targeting Denmark are unusually concrete: a Danish-language website; Danish customer support; payment in Danish currency; Danish-specific payment methods, Dankort among them; registration forms pre-filled with Denmark or the +45 dialling code; sign-in options such as Steam or Roblox; and marketing aimed at Denmark. It adds that it assesses sites individually and may find targeting in other ways, so the list is indicative.

The official register, and what it will not do

The register is published as Licensed gambling operators (opens official website). Read on 18 September 2026 it carried a stamp of Last updated: 20 August 2026, and stated that the list “does not include operators with a licence for slot machines and licensed game suppliers”.

1. Open it in a normal browser

   The list is drawn by JavaScript. With scripts blocked you will see an empty list, and could wrongly conclude the operator is absent.

2. Find the operator, not the website

   The list is keyed on licence holders, so you need the operator’s legal name — generally the company named in the site’s terms.

3. Read "Domains" against the address you are on

   The exact domain must appear there. Then check the licence blocks — TILLADELSE: Onlinekasino for online casino, TILLADELSE: Væddemål for betting — against what the site offers: holding one is not being licensed for the other.

Checking a domain — the question Denmark can answer

Most licence registers list companies. Denmark lists companies and the domains their licences cover, so it can answer whether the website in front of you is included. That answer is not an endorsement: a licence recorded here is regulatory information, not a prediction that any outcome will go your way — see the methodology.

• Domains hang off operators. A domain appearing nowhere is not covered — but establishing that means knowing which entry to open, or working through the list.
• There is no link you can send anyone. A pre-filled “check this operator” link for Denmark is untested.

The Danish label is a claim, not a check

Danish licence holders must display the Authority’s label. Its consumer page says the label “is your guarantee that the gambling operator is licensed” by it, and shows that it supervises the operator; the scheme page adds that the label is free and its design may not be altered.

What Danish licence holders must do

Age

Before participation in a game, the player must be made aware of the age limit of 18 years which applies to gambling. That is the only age rule confirmed here.

Information duties

Licence holders must inform players about responsible gambling and its harmful effects. On referrals the page is deliberately qualified: most licence holders must refer players to StopSpillet and inform them about ROFUS. That qualifier is the page’s own, and flattening it into a universal duty would misstate the rule.

Identity verification

Operators verify customers by name and civil registration number (CPR), typically through MitID at registration, with 30 days to complete it. Some offer 30-day temporary accounts permitting deposits of up to DKK 10,000 before full verification, but withdrawals require it to be complete. See identity verification.

Children and young people

Where gaming and gambling overlap the Authority states a special obligation, naming two concerns: lootboxes, which it calls digital lucky bags, and skin betting.

The label is a licence-holder duty too: the requirements page says it must be visible to the player, with positioning set by executive order rather than by the website. The Authority’s advice to players — set deposit limits, take breaks, never borrow, never chase losses — is consumer guidance; the matching operator rules on deposit limits and gambling history are not confirmed on any licence-requirements page we could read.

ROFUS, and the helpline beside it

ROFUS — Register Over Frivilligt Udelukkede Spillere, the Authority’s register of voluntarily excluded players — is published at rofus.nu (opens official website). The Authority’s statistics page reported 73,500 persons excluded as at 1 August 2026.

StopSpillet is the Authority’s free and confidential helpline for gambling problems and gambling addiction, serving players, relatives and professionals, on 70 22 28 25, Monday to Thursday 9:00–21:00 and Friday 9:00–17:00. It also offers live chat and a nine-question self-assessment, and its own site is in Danish only. One conflict is recorded rather than resolved: on 18 September 2026 the Authority listed chat as Monday to Thursday 17:00–21:00 only, while stopspillet.dk (opens official website) also listed Friday 14:00–17:00.

Complaints, and who can actually decide

This is where reader expectations most often break. The Authority states that it “is not an appeals body” and cannot resolve disputes between a player and a gambling operator. Denmark has no gambling-specific appeals board for player disputes; escalation runs through the general consumer system.

1. Complain to the operator

   It is legally required to handle the complaint, and must respond within 14 days or say when a decision will come — a duty to respond, not to decide.

2. The Mediation Team for Consumer Complaints

   A neutral mediator helps you and the operator reach a mutual solution. This step is mandatory before going further.

3. The Consumer Complaints Board

   Described by the Authority as a court-like body that issues a legal decision — the point at which somebody other than the operator decides.

4. The courts

   Available after that route is exhausted.

Complaints about gambling marketing go elsewhere: to the Consumer Ombudsman (opens official website). The Authority still wants to hear about operator problems, because enquiries feed its supervision and may lead it to ask an operator to change its practices — but it states that where you supply identifying information it cannot process your complaint anonymously.

Enforcement, and what is published about it

The mechanism is documented; the numbers are not. An operator offering gambling without a Danish licence receives an order to cease. If that does not stop it, the Authority may take the case to the district court to have the website blocked, report the operator to the police, or both. Media outlets carrying illegal gambling advertising are ordered to cease and otherwise reported to the police.

A report should give the domain or the name of the operator or media outlet, the address of any physical location, the date observed, and documentation such as screenshots. It becomes part of ongoing supervision, and you will generally not be told whether the Authority acts. See how to report a gambling site.

Common mistakes in Denmark, and what we could not verify

• Using a /en/ address from search results. Most return 404 while still ranking; the current tree is /en-us/.
• Reading the register with scripts blocked. An empty list is a rendering failure, not a licensing finding.
• Treating the label as the check. The Authority’s own route is the register.
• Reading absence as no Danish licence at all.
• Assuming ROFUS reaches unlicensed sites, or can be undone on request.
• Writing NemID. The official page read on 18 September 2026 says MitID.

Primary sources

Each link below goes to the issuing authority’s own website. Where a page could not be retrieved by our automated checks, that is stated rather than hidden.

• Forbrugerombudsmanden Consumer Ombudsman — English information on complaining about marketing
  The destination the Danish Gambling Authority gives for complaints about gambling marketing. It is the Consumer Ombudsman's own English page, part of the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority, and it describes how to complain.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spillemyndigheden About us — the Danish Gambling Authority
  Gives the authority's address and company registration number. It does not state which ministry the authority sits under, and it was not re-fetched in the verification pass.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spillemyndigheden Betting — a game which requires a Danish licence
  Defines the betting licence category. It states neither a licence duration nor an age limit, and shows no last-updated date.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spillemyndigheden Businesses and associations — the Danish regulator's section for licence holders Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spillemyndigheden Fees on betting and online casino
  Application, renewal and tiered annual fees. The table carries both a 2026 and a 2025 column, so any figure taken from it must name its year. The page does not state how long a licence runs, which is why no licence duration is published for Denmark.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spillemyndigheden Gaming or gambling? — lootboxes, skin betting and young players
  The authority describes a special obligation to protect children and young people, and names lootboxes and skin betting as its two concerns. Its dedicated sub-page was not fetched. No last-updated date is shown.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spillemyndigheden Get help for problem gambling
  A treatment-centres page is linked from here but was not fetched, so it is not published as a source.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spillemyndigheden Have you discovered illegal gambling or illegal advertising?
  Sets out what a report should contain. A report feeds ongoing supervision, and the authority says you will generally not be told whether it acts. The page does not say whether a report may be anonymous. No last-updated date is shown.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spillemyndigheden Helpful advice for people who gamble
  Consumer guidance only. It mentions operators keeping a 90-day gambling history and enforcing deposit limits, but that operator duty was not confirmed on any licence-requirements page and should not be stated as a rule. No last-updated date is shown.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spillemyndigheden If you wish to file a complaint about a gambling operator
  The authority states it is not an appeals body and cannot resolve disputes between a player and an operator. The route runs operator first, then the Mediation Team for Consumer Complaints as a mandatory step, then the Consumer Complaints Board, then the courts. Only the English names of those bodies are confirmed; their Danish names were not, and there is no gambling-specific appeals board. No last-updated date is shown.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spillemyndigheden Illegal gambling — the definition for businesses
  A game breaches the Danish Gambling Act if it is offered without a licence while the operator targets the Danish market. No last-updated date is shown.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spillemyndigheden Illegal gambling and advertising — what makes a gambling site illegal in Denmark
  Lists the indicators that a site targets the Danish market, and states that operators without a Danish licence may not advertise and that streamers may not refer viewers to them. No last-updated date is shown.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spillemyndigheden Licensed gambling operators — the Danish register of licence holders
  The page carries an explicit last-updated stamp, but the list body is drawn by JavaScript and does not appear in a plain fetch — a reader using a text browser or a strict content blocker may see an empty list and wrongly conclude an operator is absent. The list excludes slot-machine licence holders and licensed game suppliers, which are published separately. There is no working search or filter link: three query-string patterns were tested and all failed, and the search box on the page is the site-wide site search. Individual entries do show the domains covered by a licence, but the entry addresses are not uniformly reliable — one returned an HTTP 500 error.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · js-only
• Spillemyndigheden National Helpline for Gambling Problems: StopSpillet
  The English description of the authority's own free and confidential helpline, which serves players, relatives and professionals. It lists live chat on Monday to Thursday only, while the helpline's own site also shows a Friday chat window; both were observed independently and the conflict is unresolved, so both should be shown. No last-updated date is shown.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spillemyndigheden Online casino — a game which requires a Danish licence
  Defines the online casino licence category. It states no licence duration and shows no last-updated date.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spillemyndigheden Privacy policy on ROFUS — what the self-exclusion register records and who sees it
  Names the three executive orders that anchor the operator duty to check the register; those orders themselves were not fetched. It also states that the authority never discloses a registration to individuals or private businesses outside the operator checks it describes. It sets out no age or residence eligibility rule.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spillemyndigheden Public and players — the Danish regulator's consumer section
  The authoritative index of the English consumer-facing pages.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spillemyndigheden Publications — guidance published by the Danish Gambling Authority
  The index of published guidance. The operator guidelines for betting and online casino (version 9.0, 2025) could not be located: both upload paths tried returned 404, so the duties they contain on exclusion checks, deposit limits and label placement were not read.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spillemyndigheden Requirement you must meet when you hold a licence Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spillemyndigheden Responsible gambling — requirements on Danish licence holders
  The confirmed source for the rule that a player must be made aware of the 18-year age limit before taking part. Read the referral duty as the page words it: most licence holders must refer players to the helpline and inform them about the self-exclusion register — not all of them. The page also says the label must be visible to the player, with placement set by executive order rather than by the website.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spillemyndigheden ROFUS — the Danish register of voluntarily excluded players, English section Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spillemyndigheden ROFUS FAQ — questions about registering for Danish self-exclusion
  Confirms that registration needs the national eID, that a form is the route for anyone without one, that only the person themselves can register, how accounts are handled on permanent and temporary exclusions, and that operators consult the register before sending marketing. It does not say that registering enrols anyone in a separate marketing-block scheme, so that claim is not published.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spillemyndigheden ROFUS front page
  Serves Danish content despite the language parameter in the address; use the /en-us section for English.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spillemyndigheden ROFUS registration application — the self-exclusion sign-up service
  Only the page footer rendered: the login screen, the eID button and the exclusion-period choices are drawn client-side and could not be observed, so this site does not describe the interface. On that footer the displayed phone number and the underlying telephone link do not match — a regulator-side inconsistency, so trust the displayed number.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · js-only
• Spillemyndigheden Sanctions and reporting of illegal supply of gambling
  Confirms the escalation — an order to cease, then district court action to have the site blocked and a police report. It does not describe DNS blocking, name any telecommunications provider role, or give any count of blocked sites: the widely repeated figures come from news pages that now return 404, and the current news listing is JavaScript-only, so no count is published here. No last-updated date is shown.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spillemyndigheden Spillemyndigheden — the Danish Gambling Authority, English site
  The live English tree sits under the /en-us/ prefix. The older /en/ paths are still prominent in search results but mostly return 404, so any Danish gambling URL copied from a secondary source is likely to be broken.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spillemyndigheden Statistics — Danish gambling market and self-exclusion figures
  The date shown is the as-of date of the self-exclusion figure the page states (73,500 persons registered), not a page update stamp. The figures behind it sit in a dashboard that is a JavaScript application and was not opened, and the downloadable spreadsheets were not fetched.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spillemyndigheden StopSpillet — the Danish national gambling helpline
  Danish-language only; the English description of the service sits on the regulator's own site. It offers phone and chat and a nine-question self-assessment. Its chat hours include a Friday window that the regulator's English page does not list. No last-updated date is shown.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spillemyndigheden The Danish Gambling Authority's guidance on responsible gambling — betting and online casino (PDF)
  The file downloads, but its text could not be extracted during research, so nothing in it has been read or is stated anywhere on this site. It is the primary source for the exclusion-period duties and the label obligations, and it needs to be opened by hand.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spillemyndigheden The Danish Gambling Authority's label — what the licence label means for players
  The authority says the label shows that it licenses and supervises the operator, and that licence holders are legally required to display it. Nothing on the page says the label is clickable or verifies itself, and the verification route the authority gives is its licensed-operators list — so the label on a site is a claim, not a check. No last-updated date is shown.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spillemyndigheden The Danish Gambling Authority's labelling scheme
  Anyone holding a Danish licence must use the label, the design may not be altered, and using the scheme in other contexts needs written approval. The download packages linked from the page were not fetched, so those asset addresses are not published here. No last-updated date is shown.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spillemyndigheden What is ROFUS? — scope, exclusion periods and how registration ends
  The register covers online gambling from Danish-licensed operators plus land-based casinos and land-based betting in Denmark. The choices are a 24-hour break, one, three or six months, or permanent. A registration is binding and cannot be cancelled; a permanent exclusion can only be requested for deletion no earlier than a year after registration, through two logins seven to thirty days apart. Quote this page or the FAQ, but not the two merged together — they word the binding rule differently. No last-updated date is shown.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spillemyndigheden Why do gambling operators ask for documentation?
  The consumer-facing explanation of identity verification in Denmark, including temporary accounts and the limits on them before verification is complete. No last-updated date is shown.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable