Danish Gambling Authority Survey Finds Fewer Students Gamble to Win After Classroom Talks
Denmark's gambling regulator surveyed students after school talks: fewer gamble to win money, more men cite entertainment, and license-mark awareness rose.
The Danish Gambling Authority (Spillemyndigheden) reported in a study dated September 2026 that students surveyed after its classroom presentations were less likely to say they gamble to win money, while more male students said they gamble for entertainment.
The report, titled "Effekt af oplæg på ungdomsuddannelser" (effect of presentations at youth education programs), evaluates the regulator's own school outreach. iGB reported on its findings on 30 October 2026.
How the Danish Gambling Authority ran the survey
The Authority ran an online survey, using the SurveyXact tool, of classes that received a presentation between September 2024 and March 2025. Respondents were often aged 16 to 20.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Responses before the presentation | 1,433 |
| Responses after the presentation | 534 |
| Total responses | 1,967 (two separate sets) |
| Typical respondent age | 16 to 20 |
| Statistical test | Chi-squared |
Because before and after answers cannot be matched to individuals, the Authority used a chi-squared test, which compares two independent groups, instead of the McNemar test, which suits paired answers. The report also notes it cannot verify that every respondent actually attended a presentation, and says this adds uncertainty to the significance results.
Fewer students gamble to win, and more men cite entertainment
Winning money fell as a main reason for both sexes, while entertainment rose significantly only among men. The report describes both declines in the winning-money answer as statistically significant.
| Measure | Men before | Men after | Women before | Women after |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Have tried gambling | 78% | 81% | 19% | 48% |
| Main reason: winning money | 64% | 54% | 55% | 35% |
| Main reason: entertainment | 70% | 87% | 46% | 42% |
| License-mark awareness (high or very high) | 39% | 61% | 22% | 31% |
Among men, social reasons also rose from 36% to 47%, which the report calls significant. For women, the report finds no significant rise in entertainment as a reason; the figures show a slight dip from 46% to 42%. The accurate reading is therefore a broad fall in gambling to win money and a rise in entertainment answers among men, not a uniform shift across all students.
Scratchcards explain the jump in women who say they have gambled
The rise from 19% to 48% in women saying they had tried gambling does not mean more women gambled. The report says it shows more women realized they had already done so. Scratchcards, including Christmas-calendar scratchcards, were the main source of confusion, and many students, particularly women, had not thought of them as gambling. One student comment in the report states that Christmas-calendar scratchcards are also gambling.
Separately, Radio4 has reported a dispute over whether Danske Spil's scratch Christmas calendar breaches Danish marketing law because of its child-friendly imagery. Danske Spil says the product is marketed to adults only and carries a 16+ purchase notice, and the Authority told Radio4 it does not comment on individual cases.
Scratchcard age verification has been an issue elsewhere in the Nordics too; Gamingo covered how Veikkaus moved to enforce ID checks for scratchcards as Finland prepared its market overhaul.
License-mark awareness and agreement with key messages
Awareness of the license mark rose for both sexes after the presentations. Men answering "high" or "very high" moved from 39% to 61%, and women from 22% to 31%. The report calls the rise statistically significant, with a logistic-regression coefficient of 0.563. It measures awareness of the mark and of whether a site is licensed to offer games in Denmark, and it stresses the age-18 limit for licensed sites.
Among the 526 students answering the agreement questions after the presentation:
| Statement | Agree or strongly agree |
|---|---|
| All games pay back less than 100% | 77% |
| Gambling is entertainment, not a way to make money | 77% |
| The logo guarantees a Danish license | 82% |
| I have control over how much I gamble | About 69% (about 3% disagree) |
The report's own text puts agreement with the key messages generally above 75%.
Limits of the data
The findings come from the regulator evaluating its own programme, and the report cites no response rate and no external review. Before and after samples are different sets of respondents, and attendance could not be confirmed. Fieldwork ended in March 2025, roughly 17 months before the report's September 2026 date, so the figures describe students from the 2024-25 school year. The 1,967 total counts responses, not individual students.
Context for operators and regulators
The report contains no rule change, but it shows what the Authority is teaching young people: that games pay back under 100%, that profit is unlikely, and that the license mark identifies a Danish-licensed site. For operators, the scratchcard finding is the most practical detail, since seasonal and lottery-style products are not always recognized by young people as gambling.
The Authority's education work sits alongside enforcement tools that Gamingo covered when the Danish gambling regulator gained expanded enforcement powers in 2024. Youth exposure to gambling is also a concern in other markets, as in the case of Ontario students caught in an illegal gambling web.
Status reviewed on 30 October 2026. Figures come from the Danish Gambling Authority's report "Effekt af oplæg på ungdomsuddannelser", dated September 2026. More regulation news and EMEA coverage.
Frequently asked questions
What did the Danish Gambling Authority survey find about students?
After the Authority's classroom presentations, fewer students named winning money as their main reason for gambling. Among men, 64% fell to 54%; among women, 55% fell to 35%. Male students citing entertainment rose from 70% to 87%, and awareness of the Danish license mark increased for both men and women.
Did more Danish women start gambling after the presentations?
No. The share of women saying they had tried gambling rose from 19% to 48%, but the report says this reflects more women realizing they had already gambled. Scratchcards, including Christmas-calendar scratchcards, were the main source of confusion, particularly among female respondents.
How many students took part in the Danish Gambling Authority survey?
The survey collected 1,433 responses before the presentations and 534 afterward, 1,967 in total. These are two separate sets of responses, not the same people tracked over time, because answers could not be matched. Respondents were often aged 16 to 20 and attended presentations between September 2024 and March 2025.
What does the Danish gambling license mark show?
After the presentations, 82% of respondents agreed the logo guarantees a Danish license. The report measured awareness of the mark and of whether a site is licensed to offer games in Denmark, and it stresses that licensed sites have an age limit of 18.
Who ran the study on Danish student gambling attitudes?
The Danish Gambling Authority ran the online survey itself, using SurveyXact, to evaluate its own school presentation programme. The report is titled Effekt af oplæg på ungdomsuddannelser and is dated September 2026. It uses a chi-squared test because before and after responses cannot be paired.
- Danish gambling regulator
- Denmark
- Spillemyndigheden
- Responsible Gaming
- Scratchcards
- Online Gambling Safety
- Gambling Regulation
