Denmark's Self Exclusion Program Continues to Bear Fruit

Denmark has always been had a progressive player-first approach to online gambling ever since regulating in 2012. For the past decade, the Danish regulatory body has focused on how to create a safe environment for its gambling population while allowing the casino business to grow and mature at a viable pace.

Spillemyndigheden, the Danish Gambling Authority, placed the county’s self-exclusion register, ROFUS, at the centre of the safer gambling and player awareness campaigns. The Authority’s 2022 report on the program speaks volumes of the success they are achieved in making players aware of this resource over the past decade.

 An Overnight Success a Decade in the Making

It is amazing to think that Denmark has been a legal online casino jurisdiction for a decade already, and where their peers are still finding their feet, Denmark is going from strength to strength.

As a review of the past decade, a report by Spillemyndigheden highlights the fact that more than 30,000 players have registered to be self-excluded. This has allowed tens of thousands of potentially at-risk players to step away from temptation for a short break or even permanently depending on their individual circumstances.

As part of their review the Authority showed the following graph that highlights how their outreach programs have begun to reach more of the gambling community:

From its humble beginnings with just under 1500 registrants in 2012, it is clear to see when the ROFUS marketing campaigns hit their stride, with 2017 seeing more than 4000 new registrations in a single year for the first time. A growth rate that they have been able to maintain most years since then.

Registrations Show An Unexpected Gender Skew

While early 90s casino demographics showed a predominantly male skew, however as the market matured this has seen a correction to a near 50/50 split. With that in mind, one would expect gambling-related services like ROFUS to mirror this player reality, but one would be wrong.

According to Spillemyndigheden of the more than 30,000 ROFUS registrations 76% identified as male. Of this market segment 26% of men who registered on ROFUS were aged under 30, and a further 22% were aged under 40, showing a disproportionate risk of problem gambling amongst young adult males. In stark contrast to these figures, Danish women in those same age brackets only made up 4% and 6% of registrations respectively.