Denmark doubles illegal gambling site blocks

• Danish Gambling Authority blocked 334 illegal gambling websites in 2025, up from 162 in 2024.
• Visits to blocked sites fell 34% in the six months following enforcement action.
• The regulator also pursued 25 cases involving unlicensed slot machines at land-based premises.

Denmark’s gambling watchdog blocked 334 unlicensed betting and casino sites in 2025, more than double the 162 it blocked in 2024, according to the Danish Gambling Authority’s Report on Illegal Gambling 2025.

The rise of 106.2% appears to be the regulator’s busiest year of enforcement since it began blocking sites in 2012.

Most of that growth came in a single sweep. In June, the Frederiksberg Court sided with the Danish Gambling Authority and ordered 178 sites blocked in one case, the highest number of sites blocked in a single case since 2012, the regulator said.

The payoff, according to the Authority’s figures, is measurable. Traffic from Danish users to the newly blocked domains dropped 34% in the six months that followed, compared with the period before the rulings landed.

What changed behind the scenes

Notably, the regulator filed fewer blocking requests overall, 197 compared with 214 the year before, yet still blocked far more sites. The gap points to a shift in tactics: cases now tend to sweep up clusters of mirror sites and connected domains rather than chasing single operators one at a time.

A new agreement with Teleindustrien, the Danish telecoms industry body, helps explain the efficiency gain. Once a court has ruled an original site illegal, its mirrors can now be blocked without going back through the courts each time, cutting weeks out of the process.

The Authority said:

“The figures indicate that, even in 2025, DNS blocking measures have helped reduce Danes’ traffic to illegal gambling sites. This underscores that DNS blocking remains an effective tool in the fight against illegal gambling operators.”

Reach beyond the web

Slot machines got attention too. The regulator opened 25 cases involving land-based venues caught running unlicensed machines, a reminder that enforcement isn’t confined to the online market.

Cooperation with Google lets the Authority flag illegal gambling apps for removal from Google Play, and licensed operators can report brand misuse to Meta, speeding up takedowns that once relied on slower, manual escalation.

Anders Dorph, the Authority’s Director, also chairs the Gaming Regulators’ European Forum, giving Denmark a direct line into how neighbouring regulators are tackling the same illegal operators.

Education featured heavily in the report as well. The Authority’s presenters delivered 100 classroom sessions at Danish upper-secondary schools and sports clubs in 2025, driven largely by rising requests from amateur and elite clubs wanting guidance on gambling risks.

Read together, the numbers describe a regulator that has stopped treating enforcement as an annual formality. Faster mirror-site takedowns, direct lines into app stores and social platforms, and a growing schools programme suggest Spillemyndigheden is building enforcement infrastructure meant to outlast any single year’s headline figure.