The Danish Gambling Authority, Spillemyndigheden, has opened a relicensing round for Denmark’s land-based casinos, giving applicants until 3 November 2026 to file and setting licence terms of up to 10 years at a time.
The round is open to anyone, not only the current holders. Denmark has seven active land-based casino licences, covering venues in Copenhagen S, Copenhagen V, Helsingør, Odense, Vejle, Aarhus and Aalborg. Every incumbent that wants to keep operating has to apply on the same terms as a new entrant.
Seven licences and a hard deadline
Spillemyndigheden has published the application form and the list of required documentation on its website. Applications can be filed digitally as encrypted mail via Bluewhale or through the regulator’s contact form. The deadline is absolute.
“All interested parties are encouraged to submit an application to the Danish Gambling Authority. The application material must be received by the Danish Gambling Authority no later than November 3 2026. If the applicant does not meet the deadline, the application will not be considered.”
Every application received goes out for consultation to the local municipality, the local Chief of Police, the Ministry of Taxation, the Ministry of Business and, where relevant, the Danish Maritime Authority. That is five separate bodies with a view on any given application, and it puts local political and policing opinion directly into the licensing file rather than leaving it as background.
What the regulator will assess
The stated test is operational and financial competence rather than a scoring auction of the kind used in some other European retail tenders.
“When deciding whether a licence can be granted, the Danish Gambling Authority places emphasis on whether the applicant can be assumed to operate the land-based casino in a fully professionally and financially responsible manner.”
In practice that draws in ownership structure, the identity and record of senior management, and the applicant’s ability to fund a venue over a licence period that can run a full decade. The geographical element matters too: a land-based casino licence in Denmark is tied to a location, and the consultation with the local municipality and police gives that location a say in who runs it.
The 10-year ceiling is the commercially significant number. It is long enough to underwrite a property investment or a refurbishment, and it is the reason a relicensing round of this kind is the only realistic entry point for an operator that wants a physical presence in the Danish market. Miss it and the next window is years away.
Retail casinos are the one line going backwards
The timing sits against a Danish market where the money is moving online. Total gambling spend in June 2026 rose 23.6% against the same month in 2025, according to Spillemyndigheden’s monthly statistics. Betting was up 68.6% and online casino up 16%.
Land-based verticals did not share in it. Gaming machines fell 2%, land-based bingo rose 5.0%, and land-based casinos fell 0.7% year on year. Retail casinos were one of only two categories to shrink, in a month when the overall market grew by almost a quarter.
That gap frames the commercial question for applicants. A Danish land-based casino licence is a 10-year commitment to a channel that is flat to declining while the online market absorbs the growth. Denmark’s online casino segment has led the market for several years, as set out in TGE’s review of the Danish market in 2025, and June’s figures did nothing to change that direction.
What to watch before November
The open questions are whether all seven incumbents reapply, whether any new operator files for an existing location, and whether an applicant proposes a venue in a city that does not currently have one. Nothing in the process caps the number of licences at seven, which distinguishes it from jurisdictions that have moved the other way. New Zealand set a hard cap of 15 online casino licences earlier this year, and several European regulators have narrowed rather than widened access to retail permits.
Spillemyndigheden has not published a decision timeline. With five consultation bodies to clear on every file, applicants filing at the deadline should expect the assessment to run well into 2027. Further coverage of European licensing decisions is collected in TGE’s regulatory news section.
Source: Spillemyndigheden
