New coronavirus restrictions have forced land-based casinos in 18 Denmark municipalities to shut down as of December 9, by order of the Danish Gaming Authority or Spillemyndigheden.
The closure order, which also applies to restaurants, arenas and cultural centers, will affect the Greater Copenhagen area, Aarhus, Odense and several locations with the Sjælland region. The order will continue until January 3, according to iGaming Business.
Meanwhile, Spillemyndigheden is accepting applications for new land-based and on-ship casinos. Applications close January 29. Permission to operate land-based casinos is granted for up to 10 years. Denmark has eight active licenses for land-based casinos, with another scheduled to open in Copenhagen.
In other Danish news, Spillemyndigheden has published data showing that Denmark has the lowest gambling spend of any Nordic country and eighth-lowest of ten European nations sampled. The average adult spends DKK2,101 (US$340) annually.
Based on 2019 data, Finland scored the highest spend with an average of DKK3,148 per adult per year. Italy and Ireland came second and third at DKK2,586 and DKK2,546 respectively. Iceland and Sweden, meanwhile, saw players wager an average of DKK2,216 and DKK2,163, with Great Britain was also slightly ahead of Denmark at DKK2,116. Switzerland, with DKK2,051 per person and Greece, with DKK1,788, finished below Denmark.
Danish gamblers were also more likely to place sports bets rather than playing casino games or lotteries when compared with other countries. While the average European bettor in the sampled countries spent only 16.6 percent on betting, Danes spent 25.6 percent. Meanwhile, 41.7 percent of Danish gambling spend went to casino games, compared to 45.4 percent in the rest of the countries sampled, and 32.7 percent on lotteries compared to an average of 38.0 percent.
Spillemyndigheden attributed the differences to countries with less attractive sports betting offerings, like Finland.
