Danish gambling helpline hailed as success by regulator
Spillemyndigheden, the Danish gambling regulator, has published details on its StopSpillet gambling helpline, confirming that it is successfully reaching its target demographics. In a study analyzing data recorded from Stopspillet, the regulator revealed some interesting statistics.
Males make up 87% of callers, 35% of whom are between the ages of 18-25, with almost half reporting that they started gambling when they were under 18. Many of those who called in reported suffering from gambling problems for over two years.
These results work to back up previous studies that suggested gambling from a young age increases the risk of addiction.
Online gambling represented the most common type of gambling, with 62% of callers reporting using this method. Land and retail-based gambling made up 26%, with other forms of gambling 12%.
When looking at the differences between men and women, Danish men tend to spend more on gambling than women, $1799 per month compared to $1269 per month. Conversely, women typically spend more time gambling than men, 30 hours per week compared to 19 hours per week.
Women were found to be the most likely to call the helpline as a relative concerned about a family member’s gambling, with women aged 46-55 doing so most frequently.
In July, Spillemyndigheden announced plans to implement a nationwide crackdown on money laundering, identifying problem sectors including cryptocurrency, money transfer companies, and the gambling industry.