The Danish Gambling Act (Lov om spil)
The single statute that licenses private online casino and betting, keeps lotteries as a monopoly, and sets the criminal penalties for unlicensed offering
Last verified: 2026-10-05
The Gambling Act, consolidated as Act No. 1182 of 22 September 2025, requires a licence to offer gambling in Denmark, licenses private operators for online casino and betting, keeps lotteries as a monopoly, requires supplier licences and sets marketing rules and penalties.
The Danish Gambling Act (Lov om spil)
Overview
The Gambling Act is Denmark’s single regulatory statute for gambling. It is currently in force as consolidated Act No. 1182 of 22 September 2025. Its stated purposes are to keep consumption of gambling at a moderate level, to protect young and other vulnerable people from being exploited or becoming addicted, to ensure that gambling is offered fairly, responsibly and transparently, and to ensure public order and prevent gambling from supporting crime. Offering or arranging any gambling requires a licence, and the Act divides gambling into lottery, combination games and betting.
The Act keeps lotteries as a licensed monopoly while allowing private operators to hold licences for online casino and betting, requires licences for suppliers of casino games, sets suitability criteria for applicants and their owners and managers, regulates marketing and under-18 access, and provides fines and imprisonment for unlicensed offering. Detailed technical, player-account, ROFUS and promotion rules sit in ministerial orders issued under the Act, such as the order on online casino that took effect on 1 July 2025. Tax is set in a separate statute, the Gambling Duty Act.
The consolidated Gambling Act, LBK nr 1182 of 22 September 2025. [1]
The order on online casino (BEK nr 682 of 11 June 2025), in force 1 July 2025. [2]
Key facts
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The Gambling Act (lov om spil) is currently in force as consolidated Act No. 1182 of 22 September 2025, which consolidates the 2020 consolidated Act with amendments from 2021, 2022 and 2024; the official record lists a later amending act, Act No. 1780 of 29 December 2025, whose content this pass did not open, and the Act does not apply to the Faroe Islands or Greenland (§76).
Danish Ministry of Taxation (retsinformation.dk), Danish Ministry of Taxation (retsinformation.dk)
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The Act divides gambling into lottery (chance only), combination games (skill and chance) and betting on the result of a future event (§5), and requires a licence to offer or arrange any of them, except games without a stake and small land-based lotteries with annual sales below DKK 15,000 (§3).
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Lotteries are a licensed monopoly: a lottery licence can be granted to Danske Spil A/S (§6), class lotteries to Danske Spil A/S, Landbrugslotteriet and Almindeligt Dansk Vare- og Industrilotteri (§8), and a lottery licence cannot be used to offer slot machines, online or land-based bingo or casino games (§7); Danske Spil may apply for other games in separate commercial companies (§9), and four operators held a monopoly lottery licence in 2025.
Danish Ministry of Taxation (retsinformation.dk), Danish Gambling Authority (Spillemyndigheden)
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A licence to offer or arrange gambling can only go to applicants who are at least 21, are not bankrupt or under guardianship, have no conviction creating a risk of misuse and no overdue public debt; companies must be established in Denmark, the EU or the EEA or appoint an approved representative; and applicants must be assumed able to operate gambling in an economically and professionally sound way (§§26-29).
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Suppliers of online-casino games to licensees, and suppliers that handle settlement of bets, need their own supplier licence for up to five years (§24a); an online-casino or betting licensee may only offer games supplied by a licensed supplier or its own games (§§11(6) and 18(5)).
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Under the consolidated Act, marketing of gambling must present the chance of winning correctly and in a balanced way, present gambling as entertainment, not be aimed at under-18s in its design or media choice, not falsely imply that gambling contributed to a celebrity’s success, and not suggest that gambling solves financial problems or gives social acceptance (§36(1)); stakes from under-18s are prohibited (§34) and licensees may not extend credit (§35).
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Penalties include a fine or up to six months’ imprisonment for offering, arranging or supplying gambling without a licence (up to one year in aggravated cases), and fines for breaches of listed provisions; fines take account of the company’s turnover and of any financial advantage obtained, and legal persons can be held criminally liable (§§59, 61 and 62).
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Land-based casinos can be licensed for up to ten years and may offer roulette, baccarat, punto banco, blackjack, poker and slot machines (§14); gaming-machine licences allow machines in gambling halls and in licensed restaurants, with a maximum of three machines per restaurant and gambling halls open between 07:00 and 24:00 (§§19-23).
Sources
- Danish Ministry of Taxation (retsinformation.dk)Primary source — LBK nr 1182 af 22/09/2025: Bekendtgørelse af lov om spil (Gambling Act, consolidated) — https://www.retsinformation.dk/api/pdf/244581
- Danish Ministry of Taxation (retsinformation.dk)Primary source — BEK nr 682 af 11/06/2025: Bekendtgørelse om onlinekasino (enacted order, retsinformation.dk) — https://www.retsinformation.dk/eli/lta/2025/682