Denmark Gaming License

Who regulates gambling in Denmark?

Spillemyndigheden, the Danish Gambling Authority, regulates gambling in Denmark under the Ministry of Taxation (Skatteministeriet). Spillemyndigheden issues licenses, supervises license holders and enforces the Danish Gambling Act (Spilleloven), consolidated as Act no. 1182 of 22 September 2025. Gambling duty sits in a separate law, the Danish Gambling Duties Act, and is collected by the Danish Tax Agency.

Two authorities touch every licensed Danish operator. Spillemyndigheden decides whether you may offer gambling and on what conditions. The Danish Tax Agency (Skattestyrelsen) collects the duty on what you earn under the Danish Gambling Duties Act (Lov om afgifter af spil). Spillemyndigheden is also the anti-money laundering supervisor for licensed operators under the Danish Anti-Money Laundering Act (Hvidvaskloven).

Denmark gambling regulations sit in two layers. Executive orders issued under the Danish Gambling Act carry the operating detail: technical requirements, certification, marketing rules and reporting. The 2025 round rewrote the orders for online casino, online betting, land-based betting, match-fixing prevention and the AML partial exemption, so compliance work tracks the orders, not only the statute.

What types of license does Spillemyndigheden issue?

Spillemyndigheden issues an online casino license under section 18 of the Danish Gambling Act, a betting license under section 11, and a combined license covering both. Separate licenses exist for revenue-restricted operations and for game suppliers. Lotteries are excluded and remain a monopoly operated by Danske Spil.

• Danish online casino license, Gambling Act section 18, up to 5 years. Roulette, blackjack, baccarat, punto banco, poker, online bingo, gaming-machine and slots games, and other games mixing skill and chance.

• Danish betting license, Gambling Act section 11, up to 5 years. Betting on the outcome of events, sports and non-sports such as elections, covering both online and land-based retail.

• Combined Danish betting and online casino license, sections 11 and 18, up to 5 years. Both products under one application and one fee.

• Danish land-based casino license, up to 10 years. Physical casino premises. Seven licenses exist and Spillemyndigheden reopened applications in 2026, with a filing deadline of 3 November 2026.

• Danish gaming machine license, no fixed expiry. Machines in restaurants and gaming arcades, licensed separately from online products.

• Revenue-restricted license, up to 1 year. Betting or online casino where taxable revenue is DKK 1,000,000 or less, or turnover is DKK 5,000,000 or less with payout at 20% or under.

• Game supplier license, up to 5 years. Supply of games to operators holding a Danish betting or online casino license.

Most operators come to us for a Denmark online casino license, a Denmark sportsbook license under the betting heading, or the combined license where both products launch together. The Danish betting license covers sportsbook and non-sports markets in the same authorisation.

Land-based licensing sits outside an online launch. Danish land-based bingo runs under its own regime, and none of the land-based licenses above are needed to go live online.

The B2B strand is separate. A game supplier license covers betting, online casino games and combination games such as backgammon, whist and yatzy. A supplier license may only be used to supply operators that already hold a Danish betting or online casino license.

How much does a Denmark gaming license cost?

A new Danish gambling license costs DKK 343,300 for betting or online casino and DKK 480,600 for a combined license in 2026. On top sits an annual fee tied to gross gaming revenue, from DKK 73,200 in the lowest band to DKK 6,447,500 for revenue of DKK 500 million or more.

Application and renewal fees, 2026

The application fee is payable by bank transfer on submission and is not refunded if the application is rejected. A rejected revenue-restricted application is the one exception, with 50% returned.

Annual fee by gross gaming revenue

Both the application fees and the annual fees are index-adjusted every year, so budget for the figure to rise rather than hold. The 2025 column sits next to 2026 to make that movement visible.

Regulator fees are only part of the launch cost. Certification by an accredited testing house, MitID and payment integration, legal counsel on the application and the AML function all price at market rates, and they scale with the size of the platform. We cost those against your actual build rather than quote a range that fits nobody. Ask for a cost breakdown.

Source for every regulator figure above: Spillemyndigheden fee schedules for betting and online casino, revenue-restricted licenses and gambling suppliers, as published for 2026.

What taxes apply to Danish licensees?

Licensed betting and online casino operators pay gambling duty of 28% of gross gaming revenue, flat for 2026 and 2027 with no scheduled increase for online products. No deduction is allowed for bonuses, free spins or free bets. Corporate income tax of 22% applies to profit. Gambling is exempt from VAT.

Two details change the model for Danish licensees. Bonuses, free spins and free bets are not deductible from gross gaming revenue, so every promotion is taxed at 28% before it earns anything. Danish gambling duty is also calculated monthly, so cash-flow planning is monthly, not quarterly.

The 28% rate is not new. Denmark set gambling duty at 20% of gross gaming revenue when the market opened in 2012 and raised it to 28% in 2021. The rate has not moved since, and no increase is scheduled for online products.

Danish gambling duty and Danish license fees behave differently. The duty rate is flat at 28% of gross gaming revenue. The license fees are a separate charge and are index-adjusted upward every year, so total regulatory cost rises even when the rate does not.

Player winnings from a Danish-licensed operator are tax-free. That difference is a real acquisition argument against grey-market competitors, and it belongs in your Danish marketing.

Rates above follow the Ministry of Taxation rate table for 2026 and 2027 and the Danish Gambling Duties Act, corroborated by the ICLG Denmark chapter for 2026. Player tax treatment follows Danish Tax Agency guidance on gambling winnings.

What are the B2B supplier licensing rules in Denmark?

Since 1 January 2025 any company supplying games to a Danish-licensed B2C operator must hold its own game-supplier license from Spillemyndigheden, and a B2C operator may only use licensed suppliers. The 2026 fees are DKK 67,600 on application plus DKK 45,100 a year. A supplier license runs up to five years.

The definition is deliberately wide. A slots or table-game studio needs the license, and so does a company that runs and settles the bets behind a sportsbook. If your product sits between the operator and the player, assume the license applies until an adviser tells you otherwise.

Spillemyndigheden publishes a list of licensed game suppliers, so a B2C operator can verify a supplier license before integrating rather than relying on the assurance of the supplier.

Certification moved with the license on the same date. Both versions of the certification programme were allowed during a six-month transition that closed on 1 July 2025, and since that date the updated programme applies to every supplier without exception.

Supplier licensing changed how Danish platform and content deals are papered. The obligation runs both ways: a B2C operator has to verify every supplier's license status before integrating, or risk offering non-compliant games.

Source for the supplier regime: Spillemyndigheden game supplier pages and the 2026 fee schedule, corroborated by the ICLG Denmark chapter for 2026.

What is proposed, and where does the Danish gambling reform stand?

Gambling Packages 1 and 2 are political agreements, not law. Package 1, agreed on 24 October 2025, proposes a whistle-to-whistle ban on sports advertising, a ban on free-money welcome offers and mandatory risk warnings. Package 2 proposes bans on marketing through influencers and celebrities and on revenue-share payments to affiliates. The implementing bill, L 127, lapsed after the 2026 general election, so nothing has taken effect and no new date is set.

Gambling Package 1, agreed on 24 October 2025, not yet in force

• A whistle-to-whistle ban on sports advertising around live events.

• A ban on free-bet welcome offers.

• Mandatory risk warnings in gambling advertising.

• Power for Spillemyndigheden to block referral and affiliate sites that send Danish players to unlicensed operators.

Gambling Package 2, notified to the European Commission on 13 January 2026, not yet in force

• A ban on marketing using celebrities, athletes and influencers.

• A ban on revenue-share payments to affiliates.

• A ban on slot design that disguises losses as wins.

• Tighter welcome-bonus and VIP limits.

• An expanded duty of care toward players.

Taken together, the two packages would remove most of the standard acquisition playbook from the Danish market. Bonus-led and affiliate-led launches would lose their engine, and the operators who do best under those rules would be the ones competing on content and retention.

Plan for the end state now rather than for today's rules. A Danish launch built on free bets, influencer deals and revenue-share affiliates will need rebuilding if the packages become law in the agreed form.

Where the reform stands. Package 2 was notified to the European Commission on 13 January 2026 and the standstill period closed on 14 April 2026. Bill L 127, which would have implemented the agreed measures, was introduced on 25 February 2026 and had its first reading on 17 March 2026. It did not pass, and it lapsed after the 2026 general election. The new Folketing sits from 24 March 2026, so the reform has to be reintroduced from scratch. Check the current status before you build against any wording.

What are the payment and banking rules for Danish licensees?

Danish licensees may only take payments from providers authorised under the Danish Payments Act. Cryptocurrency is not permitted, cash deposits and account-to-account transfers are banned, and credit to players is prohibited. Player funds must sit in a segregated, set-off-free account, separate from the operator's own money.

Dankort and MobilePay are the dominant Danish rails, so a payment stack built for other markets usually needs local additions rather than a straight port. We cover this work on our payment solutions and bank account for a gambling company pages.

The crypto position follows from the Danish Payments Act rather than from gambling policy. The Act reaches regulated currencies only, so a Danish-licensed operator cannot accept Bitcoin or another unregulated currency as payment. A crypto-first model does not fit Denmark.

Player-funds segregation has been tested in court. In the DK Gambling ApS bankruptcy, opened on 22 April 2022, the trustee rejected players' claims to their own balances, a player appealed, and Spillemyndigheden joined the case on the players' side. Build the ring-fenced, set-off-free account properly at launch, because a structure that exists only on paper fails exactly when it is needed.

Banking access is one of the reasons to choose Denmark. Mainstream Danish and European banks and payment providers work with Spillemyndigheden licensees as a matter of course. Where operators do hit resistance, it comes before the license is granted and it is usually about AML documentation.

What are the compliance and player-protection obligations?

Danish license holders must check ROFUS on every login, identify players through MitID, make each player set a deposit limit before play, monitor for problem gambling, run an AML programme under the Danish Anti-Money Laundering Act, and keep marketing inside the promotion cap. Systems stay under the certification programme after issue.

Self-exclusion register (ROFUS)

ROFUS, the Register Over Frivilligt Udelukkede Spillere, lets a person block themselves from every licensed operator in Denmark. Exclusion is temporary, from 24 hours to six months, or final, liftable only after a year. Spillemyndigheden reported more than 60,000 self-excluded people as at 1 May 2025, and self-excluded players must receive no marketing.

Deposit limits

A player must actively set a daily, weekly or monthly deposit limit before play begins, and no default amount may be suggested. Spillemyndigheden changed its interpretation in guidance dated 26 February 2026: a rolling limit is non-compliant, and withdrawals may not be offset against the deposit limit.

Duty of care

Operators monitor players for abnormal gaming patterns that indicate problem gambling and intervene when they appear. The StopSpillet national helpline must be signposted. ROFUS disclosure has to be explicit, and the word ROFUS or its logo alone is not enough.

Marketing rules

Advertising must present winning chances fairly, stay entertainment-focused and not target under-18s. A single sales promotion or bonus is capped at DKK 1,000, any playthrough requirement is ten times or less, none applies to prizes won through a promotion, and all bonus terms are disclosed up front in the same medium.

AML and enforcement

Licensed operators are obliged entities supervised by Spillemyndigheden: risk assessment, customer due diligence, PEP screening, transaction monitoring, reporting to the Money Laundering Secretariat, and a whistleblower scheme above five employees. Since 1 July 2024 Spillemyndigheden can issue orders rather than only reprimands, can revoke a license for a single sufficiently grave breach including age-limit failures, and publishes guilty rulings and fines.

Sources for this section: Spillemyndigheden responsible-gambling guidance for betting and online casino, version 1.0 of 26 February 2026, together with its marketing-of-gambling and ROFUS pages and the Danish Anti-Money Laundering Act.

How do you renew a Danish gambling license?

A Danish gambling license runs on a five-year cycle. The 2026 renewal fee is DKK 137,300 for a single license and DKK 171,700 combined. Spillemyndigheden takes about three months to process a renewal, and the filing window is narrow: no earlier than six months before expiry, and for a license expiring 31 December 2026, no later than 1 September 2026.

The renewal fee is payable on top of the annual fee, not instead of it.

Work the window backwards. Annex A documents, including criminal record and indebtedness certificates, cannot be more than six months old when the application is filed, so Spillemyndigheden will not take a renewal earlier than six months out. Against a 1 September deadline for a 31 December expiry, the filing window is about two months wide.

What the renewal file has to carry:

• Updated application forms, including Annex C (2-04) where a representative is appointed.

• Financial statements and compliance documentation.

• Criminal record certificates and declarations on debt to public authorities.

• Evidence that annual fees have been paid.

• Evidence that systems still meet the certification programme in its current version.

Two changes catch operators renewing now. The certification programme moved to a new version on 1 January 2025, and every game you offer has to come from a licensed supplier. Renewal is the moment to re-paper both.

What are the advantages of a Denmark gambling license?

A Danish gambling license carries the weight of an EU national authorisation, which is what banks, payment providers and game studios recognise. Duty is a flat 28% of gross gaming revenue with no scheduled increase. Spillemyndigheden reported channelisation of 91.5% in 2024, so licensed operators reach almost all Danish play.

• Channelisation among the highest in the world. Spillemyndigheden put channelisation at 91.5% for 2024, so licensed operators reach almost all Danish play and the black market is not the competitor it is elsewhere.

• Enforcement that protects your channel. Spillemyndigheden blocked 334 illegal gambling sites during 2025 and can now block mirror and clone sites without a fresh court order, so unlicensed rivals lose reach rather than gain it.

• Player protection that players notice. ROFUS, MitID identification and mandatory deposit limits are visible to the Danish player, so a licensed brand reads as the safe option against a grey-market site, which is part of why channelisation sits where it does.

• Moderate, predictable tax. A flat 28% of gross gaming revenue plus 22% corporate tax is materially lighter than the Netherlands, Germany or France, and nothing is scheduled to rise for online products.

• A fast process by European standards. Licenses are granted in three to six months, against the multi-year waits some national regimes impose.

• A five-year horizon. Licenses run for up to five years, so the compliance calendar is not dominated by renewals.

• Online casino is growing. Spillemyndigheden reported online casino overtaking the lottery as the largest segment in 2025, at DKK 4.31bn, up 12.1% and 38% of the whole market. Online play accounted for 73% of Danish gross gaming revenue that year, and mobile for 73% of that online revenue.

• Bankability. A Spillemyndigheden license is a recognised European authorisation, which shortens the conversation with banks, payment providers and game studios.

• Tax-free winnings for players. Winnings from a Danish-licensed operator are tax-free, a real advantage in marketing against grey-market sites.

• Both sides covered. Denmark licenses B2C operators and B2B suppliers, so a group can license the operator and the studio in the same jurisdiction.

One correction worth making early. A Danish license gives access to the Danish market, not to the European Union. There is no EU passporting in gambling, so each member state you want to serve needs its own authorisation.

Market and enforcement figures in this section come from the Spillemyndigheden annual report for 2025, and the channelisation figure is the one Spillemyndigheden published for 2024.

What are the disadvantages of a Denmark gambling license?

Denmark is a small market with a tightening rulebook. Total regulated gross gaming revenue was about DKK 11.5bn in 2025 for a population of 5.9 million, and sports betting fell 11.5%. Advertising, bonus and affiliate restrictions are agreed in principle and await a new bill, and crypto is not permitted.

• A stacked effective load. Gambling duty at 28% of gross gaming revenue, plus an annual license fee that climbs with revenue to DKK 6,447,500, plus corporate income tax at 22% on profit.

• Heavy, audited compliance. Certification of games and platform, SAFE and Tamper Token reporting, ROFUS and MitID integration, AML with PEP screening, marketing guidelines, and systems that stay under the certification programme after issue.

• A small addressable market. About DKK 11.5bn in total regulated gross gaming revenue in 2025, down 1% on 2024, across 5.9 million people. Denmark pays back as a steady secondary market, not as the one that drives group growth.

• A crowded, mature market. Danish players are already served by established licensed brands, so acquisition costs are set by the incumbents rather than by your launch budget.

• Sports betting is shrinking. Spillemyndigheden put sports betting down 11.5% at DKK 2.13bn in 2025, so a sportsbook-led entry is running against the trend.

• The acquisition playbook is under threat. Whistle-to-whistle advertising bans, free-bet bans, influencer and affiliate revenue-share bans, and welcome-bonus limits, all agreed in principle and awaiting a new bill.

• Bonuses are not deductible. Promotions do not reduce gross gaming revenue, so the 28% duty applies before a bonus earns anything, and a single promotion is capped at DKK 1,000.

• No crypto, no credit, no cash. Danish payment rules are deliberately narrow, which rules out crypto-first and credit-funded models.

• A B2B licensing dependency. Every game must come from a Spillemyndigheden-licensed supplier, which constrains your content roadmap.

• Fees that keep rising. Application and annual fees are index-adjusted each year, so the cost line moves against you without any change in the rules.

• No passporting, and a local footprint is mandatory. The license covers Denmark only, and non-EEA applicants need an approved representative resident in Denmark.

• Market figures in this section come from the Spillemyndigheden annual report for 2025. Fee, duty and corporate tax figures follow the Spillemyndigheden 2026 fee schedules, the Danish Gambling Duties Act and the Ministry of Taxation rate table.

Denmark suits operators building a long-term regulated business with banking to match, competing on content and retention. It suits a bonus-driven, affiliate-driven or crypto-first launch poorly, because the reform packages target exactly those models. If that is the position, our gambling license hub sets out the alternatives.

Why choose MGL for a Denmark gambling license?

MGL Solutions runs the full Danish application: eligibility review, entity or representative setup, certification management, the application pack and the post-license compliance build. On Denmark the work concentrates in four places, and that is where a licensing partner earns the fee.

• The representative question. Applicants outside the EU and EEA need a Spillemyndigheden-approved representative resident in Denmark. We structure this and put it to Spillemyndigheden rather than leaving it to be discovered mid-application.

• Technical accreditation. Certification, SAFE and Tamper Token integration and MitID via a broker carry the longest lead time. We run the accredited testing house relationship and sequence the work against the filing date.

• The 2025 supplier rules. Suppliers need their own license and groups running both sides need both scopes certified. We map which of your entities needs what before you file.

• The coming rulebook. We build the marketing, bonus and duty-of-care framework against the end state of Gambling Packages 1 and 2, so the launch does not need rebuilding when the measures become law.

MGL also carries the ongoing work: AML and KYC policy, the compliance officer function, reporting to Spillemyndigheden and the renewal file five years later.

How does a Denmark gambling license compare with other options?

A Denmark iGaming license sits in the strict, high-cost tier alongside other national European regimes. Sweden is the closest match, with the same five-year ceiling and the same representative requirement. Malta taxes less, though its rate rises in October 2026. Curacao is cheaper, faster and far lighter on requirements. None of the four gives EU-wide access.

The table is a shortlist tool, not a ranking. Read the requirements column first, because it decides feasibility before any tax rate does. A group with no European entity and no appetite for local substance rules out Denmark and Malta on that column alone.

Sources for the table: Spillemyndigheden for Denmark, our own Malta and Curacao pages for those two, and for Sweden the Gambling Act (2018:1138) on term and representation plus the Swedish Tax Agency on the rate.

Choose Denmark when the Danish market itself is the goal and an EU national authorisation matters. Compare the detail on our Malta gaming license and Curacao gambling license pages.