As online casinos became Denmark’s biggest gambling segment, its exclusion register swelled by 12,000 and its helpline hit a record. The two trends are linked.
Denmark’s problem gambling indicators reached record highs in 2025. The voluntary exclusion register ROFUS grew to 68,026 people, up about 12,000 in a year. The StopSpillet helpline logged a record 727 enquiries. Online casino was the most common activity tied to problem gambling, cited by 62% of player callers.
- Denmark’s Problem Gambling Record
- Who Is Reaching Out for Help
- The Online Casino Link
- Why the Numbers Are Rising
Denmark’s problem gambling indicators hit record levels in 2025. The country’s voluntary self-exclusion register, ROFUS, grew to 68,026 people. That is a rise of roughly 12,000 in a single year. The national helpline StopSpillet logged 727 enquiries, its highest since launching in 2019. The figures come from the Danish Gambling Authority’s annual review, Spilmarkedet i tal 2025. They landed in the same report that showed online casinos becoming Denmark’s largest gambling segment. The two findings are hard to separate. As digital play grew, so did the signals of harm around it.
Denmark’s Problem Gambling Record
The self-exclusion figure is the headline concern. ROFUS lets Danish players voluntarily bar themselves from licensed gambling. Its total reached 68,026 by the end of 2025. According to the Danish Gambling Authority, that marks growth of about 12,000 registrants in a year. The register’s demographics are stark. Men made up 79% of those signed up. People under 40 accounted for 69%. That skew toward younger men mirrors patterns seen in other regulated online markets. A rising exclusion count can read two ways. It may signal growing harm, or growing awareness and use of protective tools. The report presents the number without claiming which force dominates. Denmark’s wider market context sits in our report on online casinos topping the Danish market.
Who Is Reaching Out for Help
The helpline data reveals who is affected. StopSpillet’s 727 enquiries narrowly edged its 2019 launch-year total of 728, but stand as the highest in the years since. Players themselves made 57% of the calls. Relatives accounted for 40%, a reminder that gambling harm reaches beyond the individual. One figure stands out sharply. Among player callers, 45% said they began gambling before age 18. That early-onset pattern is a recognised risk factor for later problems. The average severity score among callers reached 5.61 on a 0-to-9 scale. According to the authority, that indicates moderate to severe difficulty. The scale gives a sense of how serious the average call had become before contact. These are people already deep enough into harm to seek help.
The Online Casino Link
One product dominated the harm data. Online casino was the activity most often tied to problem gambling, cited by 62% of player callers. Online betting followed at 22%. Together, digital formats account for the overwhelming majority of reported harm. That concentration matters given the market’s direction. Online casinos also became Denmark’s largest gambling segment in 2025, at 38% of gross gaming revenue. Online slots alone made up 82% of the online casino take. The same products driving revenue growth are the ones most linked to harm in the helpline data. According to the Danish Gambling Authority, this is a correlation in its figures, not a proven causal chain. However, the alignment is difficult to ignore. As a result, regulators across mature markets are scrutinising online casino design more closely.
Why the Problem Gambling Numbers Are Rising
The rise has more than one plausible explanation. Higher exclusion and helpline numbers may reflect genuinely growing harm. They may also reflect better awareness of the tools available. In Denmark, ROFUS and StopSpillet are well publicised, which can lift usage independently of underlying harm. The shift to mobile complicates the picture further. Online play now runs 73% through mobile devices, putting gambling in players’ pockets around the clock. That constant access removes the friction that once limited session length. Following this pattern, regulated markets are increasingly pairing growth with stronger safer-gambling controls, a tension we tracked in our report on the 2026 online casino market. The enforcement pressure is real, as our coverage of the Betfred harm-prevention penalty shows.
Frequently Asked Questions
How high did Denmark’s problem gambling numbers rise?
Denmark’s problem gambling indicators reached record highs in 2025. The voluntary exclusion register ROFUS grew to 68,026 people, up about 12,000 in a year. The StopSpillet helpline logged a record 727 enquiries. Both figures came from the Danish Gambling Authority’s annual market review published in 2026.
What is ROFUS?
ROFUS is Denmark’s national voluntary self-exclusion register. Arden Consult It lets people bar themselves from licensed gambling for a set period or permanently. By the end of 2025, it held 68,026 registrants, up roughly 12,000 in a year. Men made up 79%, and 69% of registrants were under 40.
Which activity is most linked to problem gambling?
Online casino was the activity most often linked to problem gambling in Denmark, cited by 62% of player callers to the StopSpillet helpline. Online betting followed at 22%. Together, digital gambling formats accounted for the large majority of reported harm in the 2025 data, according to the Danish Gambling Authority.
Who is most affected?
Younger men are most represented in Denmark’s problem gambling data. Men made up 79% of the ROFUS exclusion register and 69% of registrants were under 40. Among helpline callers, 45% reported starting to gamble before age 18, a recognised risk factor for later gambling difficulties.
Does rising exclusion mean gambling harm is growing?
Not necessarily. A rising self-exclusion count can reflect growing harm, or growing awareness and use of protective tools. Denmark’s ROFUS and StopSpillet services are well publicised, which can lift usage independently. The Danish Gambling Authority presented the figures without claiming which factor is the main driver.
What does the severity score mean?
The average problem-gambling severity score among Danish helpline callers was 5.61 on a 0-to-9 scale in 2025. According to the Danish Gambling Authority, that range indicates moderate to severe difficulty. It suggests many callers had reached a significant level of harm before reaching out for support.
This article has been thoroughly researched and reviewed by the CasinoBait editorial team to ensure accuracy and relevance for Asian casino players.
